What is the cheapest you can get a 3-digit number plate for?

[Phooey]

datelessregistrations said:

£30,000

There are only 9 left to auction off and after that they’re all in private hands

Ones like 4DU are around £33,000 and they increase to ones like JT 1 for six figure sums.

Thanks. I didn't know there was 9 left to auction. I always wanted one but never got any further, bought a 4-digit for £1200 (nothing special but I just wanted the cheapest) and seems like it's been a good investment. I know they're not for everyone but I just think there's something about the 'less is more' look. And they're not making any more of them.

I don't think I could stomach 30k unless I was sure it would be an investment because they're not easy to sell in private hands.


Do you think that like everything else currently (cars, watches, houses?) they are in a bubble?

[ferret50]

I have a three number/three letter plate, came to me in 2000 attached to a '63 Daimler V8 Saloon. Sold that in '08 to a German trader who did not want the plate, I tried sellng it on evilbay but it failed to get anywhere near my £400 reserve so it's been on several of my cars!

Currently on 'er indoors Vauxhall Viva/

[Louis Balfour]

ferret50 said:

I have a three number/three letter plate, came to me in 2000 attached to a '63 Daimler V8 Saloon. Sold that in '08 to a German trader who did not want the plate, I tried sellng it on evilbay but it failed to get anywhere near my £400 reserve so it's been on several of my cars!

Currently on 'er indoors Vauxhall Viva/

3x3 plates are cool.

XYZ 123 preferred, but 123 XYZ not far behind!

[datelessregistrations]

Phooey said:

datelessregistrations said:

£30,000

There are only 9 left to auction off and after that they’re all in private hands

Ones like 4DU are around £33,000 and they increase to ones like JT 1 for six figure sums.

Thanks. I didn't know there was 9 left to auction. I always wanted one but never got any further, bought a 4-digit for £1200 (nothing special but I just wanted the cheapest) and seems like it's been a good investment. I know they're not for everyone but I just think there's something about the 'less is more' look. And they're not making any more of them.

I don't think I could stomach 30k unless I was sure it would be an investment because they're not easy to sell in private hands.


Do you think that like everything else currently (cars, watches, houses?) they are in a bubble?

It’s hard to say but when we sell these numbers we typically assign them to a Rolls, Bentley, Lamborghini or other high end car so the short 3 character stuff has an appeal to people and they aren’t making more so there are a limited amount of numbers to go around and many more nice cars being made each year.

there are fewer and fewer in original ownership and when they go to the ultimate end user they typically stay there a generation

NR 1 is an example as that sold to a chap with those initials and it’s now on a rare Aston in central london so would be unlikely to come up for sale again.

The 4 character numbers are more popular but they now typically start just under £4,000 if you’re lucky to find one but for popular initials they can be much more.

Suppose it’s like anything when you delve deeper there are people involved in every asset class like wine, stamps, watches and so on.

Some people don’t see the appeal and some do.

The 3 character stuff has become a bit of a status symbol as the must have accessory for a new car now (again some people will disagree but for many people it is)

In Dubai number plates can easily fetch millions and that mentality is catching on in the UK - of course, not to everyone and we fully understand some people wouldn’t want a private number plate

[Dog Star]

David87 said:

There’s a price difference between X1 XXX and 11 XXX or 111 XX though. If it’s the latter and dateless then would be worth a good bit more. That said, you’d do well to get anything that’s not absolutely terrible for £250 nowadays.

I’ve got a true dateless ABC123 plate on my car - it was curiously cheap at £490 in 2008. I only bought it as it was a local plate, which I thought was quite cool.

Mrs DSs sister got a good one - she’s called Rosie and from DVLA “off the shelf” (ie not an auction) got RO51Exx (where xx are her initials) for a whopping £499 which I thought was great. Even spaced correctly it look pretty cool.

I like the system in Belgium where you can have anything on a plate and it’s not even that expensive - I cannot think how they could do that here as it’d crash the entire plate industry.

I saw this in Blankenberge…

[Phooey]

datelessregistrations said:

It’s hard to say but when we sell these numbers we typically assign them to a Rolls, Bentley, Lamborghini or other high end car so the short 3 character stuff has an appeal to people and they aren’t making more so there are a limited amount of numbers to go around and many more nice cars being made each year.

there are fewer and fewer in original ownership and when they go to the ultimate end user they typically stay there a generation

NR 1 is an example as that sold to a chap with those initials and it’s now on a rare Aston in central london so would be unlikely to come up for sale again.

The 4 character numbers are more popular but they now typically start just under £4,000 if you’re lucky to find one but for popular initials they can be much more.

Suppose it’s like anything when you delve deeper there are people involved in every asset class like wine, stamps, watches and so on.

Some people don’t see the appeal and some do.

The 3 character stuff has become a bit of a status symbol as the must have accessory for a new car now (again some people will disagree but for many people it is)

In Dubai number plates can easily fetch millions and that mentality is catching on in the UK - of course, not to everyone and we fully understand some people wouldn’t want a private number plate

Thanks for reply - very interesting to hear from someone in the game

[SOMI]

Hi guys, in my opinion 3 digit plates will always increase in value. This is due to a limited supply (no more new ones to come onto the market) with an ever increasing demand as the population is constantly growing with more cars/drivers on the road. This can only lead to the price increasing as time goes on and is a demand/supply equation.

If you look at dvla historic auction results for 3 digit plates, they have increase in value quicker then any other asset or commodity and in my opinion will continue to do so.

Edited by SOMI on Sunday 11th February 16:38

[Geertsen]

datelessregistrations said:

There are only 9 left to auction off and after that they’re all in private hands

Where is this information from? Not saying you are wrong but this seems surprising to me.