Most expensive private number plates sold by the DVLA in 2023 revealed
Whether you’re a motorist with a taste for personalization or an investor looking for future returns, private plates have become a hot topic in recent years.
And the prices some people pay for something they really want are staggering.
The world’s most expensive private sign recently sold for £13 million to an anonymous bidder in Dubai. The board? A lonely ‘7’.
But what about in Great Britain? We exclusively reveal the top 10 most expensive registrations sold by the DVLA.
Most expensive private number plates of 2023: We reveal which personalized number plates were sold for the highest amounts by the DVLA last year – and compare them to the most expensive of all time
Top 10 most expensive registrations sold by DVLA in 2023
2023 marked the end of an era in the private record world, with the last in-person DVLA auction taking place in October.
Personalized registration auctions will now take place exclusively online, with the DVLA holding six sales per year.
The 2023 number one spot at a DVLA auction was ‘H1 NDU’, which sold for £112,010 (excluding fees and taxes).
The high retail price needs little explanation, and the six-figure price is perhaps less surprising than some others that were last year’s most expensive.
The top 10 was dominated by the trend of private records with ‘O’, with half of the most expensive private registrations following this format.
This is becoming an auction standard in today’s private plate market.
Two ‘DEO’ records made the most expensive list: ‘1 DEO’ sold for £106,090 and ‘DEO 1S’ made £80,010.
Registrations with letters first and the number 1 in the series tend to achieve the highest prices, based on the DVLA’s historical data.
The “DEO” inspired big hitters may be appealing because of the “God” meaning behind them, but there is no definitive answer.
It is the gambling game that makes private records an interesting investment for many.
The all-time greats: the top 10 most expensive personalized DVLA signs sold at auction
The most expensive private plates ever sold by DVLA
2023 was not a particularly strong performing year for DVLA registrations compared to the previous five years.
Jon Kirkbright, sales director at license plate supplier Platehunter, attributes this to lower quality stock.
He told This is Money: ‘The best records were sold when the DVLA started auctions back then.
“Now you’re looking at a first license plate, but there are three digits behind it because one through 99 has already been released.”
The top 10 over the past five years ranged from £308,253 for ‘DEV 1L’ to £84,000 for ‘3 XRP’.
‘DEV 1L’ was also the third most expensive of all time, with collectors clambering over the license plate of Cruella De Vil’s iconic car.
Five of the ten were all above £112,000, but only one sold in 2023: ‘H1 NDU’, last year’s most expensive.
Smokin’: The DEV 1L license plate of Cruella De Vil’s iconic car was sold by the DVLA in 2021 for £308,253
By comparison, the all-time top 10 were all over £150,000 (excluding fees and taxes) and sold as early as 1989 – the year the agency first organized private record auctions.
The most expensive DVLA registration ever sold was ’25 O’, which reached £400,000 (excluding fees and taxes) on 27 November 2014.
It was well ahead of second place ‘1 D’ which earned £285,000. There are no prizes if you guess which boy band the bidder was a fan of.
The first online auction of 2024 has already taken place, with ‘L1 BYA’ the standout lot for £80,000 (just under £103,000 including auction costs and VAT).
CarReg, a British company that specializes in the purchase and sale of private number plates, told us: ‘L1 BYA could potentially end up on a vehicle used by diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, as similar numbers have in the past have done.’
Where the private plate market stands
As of 2023, companies operating in the sector valued the UK personalized number plate industry at over £2 billion.
Jon Kirkbright, 45, is the founder of Plate Hunter
In total, 17,823 registrations were sold at last year’s DVLA auctions, with buyers spending almost £49 million (including fees and taxes).
Platehunter saw a 25 percent increase in turnover in the first 17 days of January compared to last year, with valuation requests per day already 100 higher than last year.
Kirkbright expects this year to be the biggest yet: ‘The market for second-hand records continues to grow and 2024 will be no different.
‘People are seeing that worse records sold by the DVLA are selling for the same price they paid for a better one at auction years ago, and are now demanding double or triple the price for their records on the second-hand market.’
Five reasons why people spend a lot on private signs
Names, initials and words
License plates that spell (or nearly spell) names, initials and words are the most common reason people indulge in private registrations.
Either people want to express their individuality and personality, or an investor knows that certain words will continue to increase in value.
The Prince and Princess of Wales drove away from their wedding with ‘JU5T WED’ on the rear number plate of King Charles III’s Aston Martin Volante.
Businessman Afzal Khan has reportedly turned down £10million for his ‘F1’ sign which he bought for £440,000 in 2008.
Investment
Investors are moving to places where returns are good, and the performance of private license plates is drawing investors away from traditional investments.
With returns exceeding those of wine, watches, jewelry, classic cars and art, it’s not surprising that personalized signs spark a bidding war.
One specialist said that a sign can double in value in twelve months.
Buyers can flip signs very quickly, and unlike investments like cars or art, there are no storage fees. You can even drive your car with your license plate without it losing value!
Disguising the age of a car
While you can’t customize and display a license plate that makes your car look newer than it is, you can apply a private tag that hides the age of your car.
You don’t have to drive around with an age-identifiable DVLA license plate.
Power symbols
There is inner confidence and then there is the need to prove it.
Drivers with private license plates that suggest status such as success, money or influence, such as ‘BO55’, use short words or acronyms to project the image of themselves that they want to portray.
Sentimentality
Some people have a locket with a photo in it, others a tattoo. But for some drivers, a private sign is the best way to remember and commemorate special dates, events or references to loved ones.
And because these evoke personal memories, many find it worth paying a lot of money for the personalized license plate combinations they really want.
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