The third most expensive registration plate in the world sold in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, confirming the UAE as a vanity-plate record holder.
A plate bearing the single digit '7' was sold for 17 million dirhams, or $4.6 million, in a government auction on Saturday.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the most expensive number plate ever sold, barring the single digit, 1 , was bought by Emirati businessman Said Khouri in 2008 for an eye watering 52.2 million dirhams, the equivalent of $14.2 million.
The second most expensive number plate, 5, was also sold in Abu Dhabi for 25.2 million dirhams, or $6.86 million, during a number plate auction organized by the Emirates Auction Company in 2007. A total of 72 vanity plates were sold on Saturday for a total of 50 million dirhams.
"I think its a matter of recognition." said Muhammad Kashif, owner of the UAE Number Plates Company. "Just having a Ferrari isnt much these days. People want a nice number plate to go with the car. It makes them just that much more popular than the other Ferrari drivers."
Kashif said that the trend for private number plates is now so popular in the Emirates that people far less wealthy are starting to get in on the act.
As number plates in the UAE come by default with five digits, the fewer digits on the plate, the higher the value. A number plate with four digits can cost around 5,000 dirhams, ($1,300) but prices are pushed up for numbers that are memorable, in sequence like 1234 or all identical such ads 7777.
Reg
No comments:
Post a Comment