Spending Big On Plates — The 7 Most Expensive Number Plates In The World

We are used to seeing rich and successful people spending a lot of money on luxurious rides and yachts. But what about private number plates commonly seen on road going vehicles?

Spending big on personalized number plates is very common among the rich and famous who believe that a luxurious car is incomplete without its matching number plate.

Now, in this post, we have highlighted a few of the most expensive personalized number plates in the world. Here, let’s take a look.

1. 25 O

Price tag- £518,000

The “25 O” number plate is widely considered to be the priciest ever registered plate that’s sold by the DVLA [till date]. It was bought in 2014 by the Ferrari dealer, John Collins.

This number plate is now thought to have its place on a Ferrari 250SWB, the car that’s alleged to be owned by Eric Clapton once with a net worth of around 10 million pounds.

2. VIP 1

Price tag- £239,141

The “VIP 1” number plate is owned by the Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich (who’s also widely known to be the owner of the Chelsea Football Club). Mr. Abramovich purchased this plate in 2006, the same year he was also voted as one of the richest people in the world by Forbes.

The VIP 1 number plate was purchased for his blue Rolls Royce Corniche IV convertible that was bought at an auction in Great Britain.

3. F 1

Price tag- £440,625

The “F 1” plate is the priciest ever number plate to be sold in the UK. It was purchased in 2006 by Mr. Afzal Khan, a car-tuning tycoon, and was registered for his luxury car, Mercedes SLR McLaren.

Mr. Khan considered this plate to be a good investment (which undoubtedly it was ‘because the price of this plate has increased significantly in recent times in comparison to that paid by Khan in 2006). Here’s what he said at the time of the acquisition:

“I think it is a good price to pay because it is probably worth ten times that”.

4. 1

Price tag- £7million

This number plate was bought by Saeed Abdul Ghaffer Khouri at an auction in Abu Dhabi for a whopping price of 7 million pounds.

Mr. Khouri simply said this after the purchase:

“I bought it because it’s the best number.”

We think he has a point right there itself. The number “1” is a rare find indeed.

5. M 1

Price tag- £276,002

The M 1 number plate gets its value for being the first ever registered plate dating way back to the year 1902. The M 1 number plate was purchased for a very rare Mercedes Benz that was bought in the year 1900. So you see it does have a fair amount of historical value and hence, the price tag is justified enough.

Now fast forward to the year 2000.

Mike McCoomb, who made his fortune by selling mobile phones to the BT Cellnet in Europe, purchased this plate for a whopping sum of £276,002 for his son’s birthday.

6. S 1

Price tag- £404,063

The “S 1” number plate is widely regarded as the first-ever legal registration plate in Scotland. Hence, it’s more than natural for it to come with a hefty price tag.

The “S 1” plate was first sold in the year 2008. Currently, the same plate is estimated to have a value of around 1 million pounds.

7. GB 1

Price tag- £325,000

This one’s regarded as the most patriotic number plate in the UK, and it picked up even more value after Brexit.

This plate was sold in 2009 (to a private buyer) for a whopping sum of £325,000. The plate’s now estimated to have a value of around £500,000.

A few more mentions…

• 1 S (£340,000)
• 1 D (£352,411)
• G 1 (£500,000)
• 12THMAN (£89,696)
• 5 (£7,019,733)

So that’s it then. It’s time to bring this article to a close for now. We hope you really had a good and enlightening read.