The 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn Kurier, winner of the Best of Show award at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach, California, U. S. , on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. Since 1950, the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance has hosted the worlds most beautiful and expensive collectible cars for a week of lavish parties, blue-chip auctions, glamorousrallies, and exclusive high-roller meetings. Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

Rare licence plates bring in about Dh30m at Dubai auction


The National

A licence plate auction in Dubai on Sunday fetched about Dh30 million, the emirate's Roads and Transport Authority said.

It was the 109th public auction and was held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. The number AA90 fetched the highest amount of Dh2.7m.

Plate number M73 was sold for Dh2.36m while W55555 and X800 fetched Dh1.71m and Dh1.02m, respectively.

Plates on offer had two-, three-, four- and five-digit numbers, with the AA, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X and YZ codes.

A plate's value is determined by the emirate, series and number. Letters high up on the alphabet are usually worth more.

Certain letters such as O and W, which is pronounced in Arabic as “wow”, carry a prestige of their own.

The agency sold 100 plates and raised Dh36.5m at its previous auction on December 19, 2021.

Plate Z 31 was sold for Dh2.82m and V10000 for Dh920,000. W500 and O66666 each fetched Dh840,000.

Car number plates garner huge interest among motoring enthusiasts in the UAE. In 2016, Indian businessman Balwinder Sahni paid Dh33 million for plate D5, thought to be the world's most expensive sale.

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Updated: March 14, 2022, 10:27 AM`