There was a time when the personalised number plate (PNP) was the preserve of celebrities with big egos and money to burn. We’ve all heard, for example, about Paul Daniels and his number plate MAG 1C.
But that’s all changed. Today anyone can buy and sell these humble pieces of plastic containing random numbers and letters, and make serious money from their dealings. Now that’s magic.
Ivan Scott, a 48-year-old property developer and motoring enthusiast based in Burnley, Lancashire, was quick to realise the growing popularity and investment potential of the PNP. In 1996 he was looking through a list of number plates for sale in a magazine and saw that 1 VY – which spells his nickname, Ivy – was available.
CNN Interview The Number “5″ Buyer
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“I had been waiting many years for the chance to acquire it,” he recalls. “I first spotted it in 1986, when it was going for £8,500. But I couldn’t afford it then.” Ten years later he finally bought it, for a hefty £15,500. He put it on his Mercedes and proudly drove around with it for three years. Then someone with the initials VY offered him £24,500 for it and he found it difficult to refuse.
“In those days £24,500 could buy three two-bedroom terraced houses in Burnley, so I put that money into my property development business.” And while it’s true that the 1 VY plate would now fetch considerably more than the sum he got for it, his properties in the booming northwest have provided an even better return.
F1 Number Plate
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He paid £8,500 for his next plate – OVA 1, which spells Oval and is nifty for one of his property companies, Oval Estates. But it is also valuable to anybody who is passionate about cricket. “These days I look for plates with two meanings,” Scott explains. ”OVA 1 is relevant for cricket, but also for a person with those initials – it’s a better investment when you get two markets.”
In 2001 Scott’s daughter Yasmin had her 11th birthday, and his present to her was the plate 11 YS. It cost him £6,500, and he sees it as an excellent long-term investment. “It’s putting on 10 per cent in value each year, which makes it better than money in the bank. Next year, when Yasmin turns 17, she’ll have it on her first car. She’s got her eye on a VW Beetle Cabriolet.”
His wife, Bibi Nissa Scott, was not to be left behind. Two years ago he paid £12,000 for a PNP to go on her Audi convertible: the wholly appropriate BNS 2.
He spends two to three hours a week studying the PNP market on the internet and in car magazines. But his purchases so far have been made through the long-established PNP dealer Regtransfers, where prices are “competitive”. He’s been to several DVLA-sponsored number plate auctions but so far without a successful bid: “People can get obsessive about buying certain plates, which pushes up the bidding. I think prices are better through a firm like Reg transfers, which acts as an agent between buyers and sellers.”
In 2003 he spent £6,000 on the plate 3 VN, to use on the BMW he owned at the time – and sold it last year to a colleague for £7,500. “Plates with only two or three letters and a low single-digit number – especially 1 – are extremely popular. I plan to concentrate on this type from now on. I’m chasing one at the moment but can’t tell you which, because it might push the price up.”
His latest acquisition is 1 VON, which he bought 18 months ago for £12,500, “because I couldn’t find 1 VAN and it was the next best thing, as some people misspell my name that way on Christmas cards.” He still owns the YYO 1 plate he bought seven years ago for £4,500. “I just thought it looked good,” he remarks. “I’ve been sitting on it while the value has gone up.”
He intends to sell some of the PNPs he is not currently using, and reinvest the money in more “prestigious” and valuable ones.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Scott declares, “number plates have done better than the stock market over the past seven or eight years. And it’s an investment which gives you pleasure – especially if you’re a car nut, like me. I really enjoy driving a car that looks distinctive and special, because of a personalised plate.”
Not surprisingly, he admits to being an inveterate reader of number plates when he is on the road. He considers the “look” of them and speculates on their monetary value. And not a week goes by, he says, when he doesn’t regret having sold his 1 VY. “I would pay £45,000 now to get it back. It’s a cracking plate…”
Source: www.ft.com Published: June 9 2006 22:43
Registrations For Asian Families
Over the last few years private number plates have become increasingly popular within the Asian community, any private number that even resembles an Asian name would demand very very high prices. The exact name on your private number plates is of course the number of numbers, for example S1 NGH was sold for over one hundred thousand. KAL 1D, MON 53R, KUM 4R, MR51 NGH were also others that achieved high prices at the Government private number plates auction.
Registrations For The Chinese
The Chinese have also become more interested, private plates with the numbers “888″ are especially popular as the number “8″ is considered very lucky but any number with 4 is very unlucky as it can signify bad luck or even death. It is very unlikely you would see a Chinese man driving a car with a “4″ in the private number plates.
