All You Need to Know About Vanity Car Plates
How do you get a personalised car plate?
Step 1: Submit your desired registration to the Transport Department in January, May or September.
Step 2: If there are more applications than the allotted limit, applicants will be selected by lot.
Step 3: Assuming your plate meets the department’s requirements, pay a deposit of HK$5,000.
Step 4: Attend your allotted auction session. Each plate is sold at a minimum of HK$5,000, if nobody else applied for it, but prices can run into the millions in a bidding war.
Step 5: Pay for your number plate and install it on your car.
What is the most expensive car plate sold so far in Hong Kong?
“W”, which was auctioned for HK$26,000,000 in the Lunar New Year auction in March this year.
What can’t you feature on a personalised number plate? Certain letters or combinations of letters are reserved for specific types of vehicles and cannot be used in registration plates that would suggest you have one of those vehicles. These include:
“A”, the prefix for ambulances.
“F”, the prefix for fire engines and other Fire Services Department vehicles.
“AM”, which is reserved for government vehicles.
“LC”, which belongs to Legislative Council vehicles.
“ZG”, the prefix for Zhù Găng, which means “stationed in Hong Kong”, is for official vehicles of the People’s Liberation Army in Hong Kong.
What is the Chief Executive’s number plate? The CE’S vehicles do not have registration plates but bear Hong Kong’s bauhinia emblem in front and at the rear. Before the handover, the governor’s vehicle bore the St Edward’s Crown emblem.