Investing

Investing in Number Plates

By Ruby Speechley

Whether personalised number plates make you smile or raise your eyebrows, there’s no denying that they have always been a popular accessory. Now, however, they are a multi-million pound business, even offering opportunities for investment.

Dealers began trading in personal number plates long before the government realised how popular they were and how much money people were prepared to pay for the plate of their choice. “Car owners in the UK have spent in excess of £950m on private numbers at auctions since 1989, money that goes straight to the Treasury,” says Damien Lawson, Auction Manager for DVLA, “people have seen substantial rises in the last few years and long may it continue.”

Part of the reason for these rises is the introduction of the new number plate system in September 2001. The seven figure combinations are not as appealing to the cherished number enthusiasts who tend to prefer numbers to be short. And the shorter the number, the older it is. The first British number plates were issued in 1903, numbers such as A 1, B 1, C 1 etc, which today are by far the most valuable. A 1 alone is thought to be worth around one million pounds. X 1 is currently available for an incredible £500,000. The most expensive plate sold to date is K1 NGS for £235,000 (in 1993). Following close behind is 1 A for £202,000.

How can these prices be justified, you may ask. Well, not only are they 100 year old antiques, but there is only one of each available, which means that every number plate is truly unique. It’s easy to forget that you can’t just go out and buy one that is slightly damaged for less money, like you often can with other antiques. And it stands to reason that it only takes two people prepared to pay a premium for a particular number, for the price to escalate. Imagine being at the Paris Motor show in 2002 for example, when Ferrari unveiled their long-awaited Ferrari Enzo. Supposing they announced that there was only one for sale, how frenzied do you think the bidding would have been!

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