The third most expensive license plate in the world has been sold in Abu Dhabi, cementing the United Arab Emirates as a vanity-plate record holder. The license bearing solely the digit “7” was sold for 17 million dirhams ($4.6 million) in a government auction.
In all, 72 specialized plates were sold in the auction for a total of 50 million dirhams ($13 million).
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the most expensive plate with the digit 1 was sold to Emirati businessman Said Khouri in 2008 for 52.2 million dirhams ($14.2 million).
The second most expensive plate “5” was also sold in Abu Dhabi for 25.2 million dirhams, ($6.86 million) during a special number-plate auction organized by the Emirates Auction Company in 2007.
“I think it’s a matter of recognition,” said Muhammad Kashif, owner of the UAE Number Plates Company. “Just having a Ferrari isn’t much these days. People want a nice number to go with the car. It makes them just that much more popular than the other Ferrari drivers.”
Kashif said the trend for personalized and distinctive number plates is so popular in the Emirates those with a flare for the fanciful and a few dollars to spare will settle for something unique, if a little less glamorous.
As number plates in the UAE come by default with five digits, the fewer digits on the plate, the higher the price. 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 (4567) or all identical (4444).
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Article Last Updated: February 22, 2010.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
This is ridiculous.. with all the hunger and poverty in the world, these people will spend millions to put a "5" on their car? Their priorities are in the wrong place for sure!! If you need to put a "1" on your car, you aren't No. 1