The Most Expensive License Plates in the UK
License plates are one of those commodities in life that most of us dont even notice. Did you spot, for example, that the license plate on Doc Browns De Lorean read ‘OUTATIME’? Did your eagle eyes hone in on the fact that Iron Mans plates say ‘STARK’?
We see hundreds of license plates every single day, and to most of us they simply blend into the medley of the commute home. To the particularly car-proud, however, they are more than just license plates; they are status symbols, hilarious jokes, or expressions of individuality. Some motorists consider these endeavours to be so worth pursuing that they are willing to pay vast sums of money for a simple arrangement of numbers and letters.
Here are the most expensive license plates in the UK ever.
’51 NGH’ – £254,000
Singh is a common name in the Sikh community, which could possibly explain the sky high price tag attached to this plate when it sold in 2006.
‘VIP 1′ – £285,000
This plate is currently owned by Roman Abramovich, Chelsea FC’s billionaire owner. It has previously been fitted to the Popes private car for a visit to Ireland.
‘M 1′ – £331,000
This plate was purchased by a mobile phone entrepreneur in 2006, who claimed that the license plate was a gift to his 10 year old son.
‘1 D’ – £352,000
Long before the famous boyband of the same name, this license plate was purchased by businessman Nabil Bishara, living in Warwickshire.
‘S 1′ – £404,000
This was Scotland’s first ever pressed number plate, according to legend. In 2008, the mythology-shrouded plate was bought at an auction, with the anonymous bidder vowing to attach the plate to a second hand Skoda.
‘F 1′ – £440,000
For some time, this plate held the record as the UK’s most expensive. The coveted ‘F1′ number plate was bought by businessman Afzal Khan back in 2008, and since then have adorned his McLaren-Mercedes SLR.
The UK’s Most Expensive Number Plate
’25 O’ – £518,000
Here it is, the UK’s most expensive number plate of all time. But why is it this particular selection of numbers and letters? What meaning could this combination possibly have that would warrant the spending of over half a million pounds? This highly desirable plate was bought by Ferrari dealer John Collins back in 2014, for his beloved Ferrari 250 SWB. It turns out that ’25 O’ is apparently considered the perfect number plate for the Ferrari 250, hence the bidding war that escalated into the heavens before Collins emerged victorious, holding the yellow plastic plank above his head like a wrestlers belt.