Gold plated

Tune into Arabianbusiness.com on 16th February to witness live coverage of Abu Dhabi’s largest ever number plate sale.

On February 16, officials from the Guinness Book of World Records will be in Abu Dhabi to witness the auction of exclusive number plates including the most elusive and sought after of all: an Abu Dhabi number 1.

"Number 1 may break our own world record as the most expensive number plate", said Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rahman M. Ali Al Kamali, director of administration of privatisation and financial investments at the Ministry of Interior.

"We think it may fetch more than number 5 which sold for Dhs25.2 million," he added in an interview with UAE daily Gulf News.

Number plates in the UAE bestow upon their owners their present rank in society - Ruler: number 1; immediate family: single digits; senior government officials: two digits; private company CEOs: three digits; journalists: 5698724.

Small wonder then that they attract such extraordinary value. The status of being labelled one of the top 200 individuals in the UAE is worth a great deal in UAE society and business.

But can it really be worth Dhs25 million or more? Surely a small proportion of this price can be put down as a business expense. The rest is pure vanity.

A clue to value can be found in other countries. In the UK, the record for the most expensive number plate ever sold was broken this week when an anonymous buyer paid £375,000 (Dhs2.73 million) for the plate ‘F1' (Bernie Ecclestone, perhaps?).

It seems that the British refuse to pay more for a number plate than they could spend on even the most expensive, customised Bentley or Rolls Royce on which to attach it.

There is clearly no such ceiling among the super rich of the UAE.

Maybe it is the fact that UAE number plates use only numbers - creating the rank in society league table effect - while UK plates have to use letters and numbers.

Or maybe it is because cars in the UAE spend so much time in traffic jams, the value of their exterior fixtures is higher because people spend more time looking enviously at them.

Whatever the reason, the regular number plate sales make fascinating viewing. And we look forward to bringing you live coverage of the Abu Dhabi sale on February 16. Stay tuned to ArabianBusiness.com on the day to watch the madness unfold.

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READERS' COMMENTS

At least it went to charity...
Posted by Hussain M, Khobar, Saudi Arabia on Monday 28 January 2008 at 17:32 UAE time

It's a good thing that the money goes to charity where as here in KSA, the money just goes into pockets of the traffic authority and... you never see that money again.

The things people do to show off.... makes me wonder!

Gold Plate - Plates for Charity
Posted by Z B, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 27 January 2008 at 14:58 UAE time

I don’t know why everyone keeps talking about number plates numbers without also mentioning that the money goes to charity.
The previous auctions in Abu Dhabi went to charity too.
Be fair to be respected.

Reason for record auction results
Posted by Martin, SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates on Sunday 27 January 2008 at 12:38 UAE time

It has to be considered that Abu Dhabi - in opposite to Dubai - is using 100% of the auction results for charity! This is in my view a wonderful and smart idea. And there are auction winners who understood how to maximise the charity effect of car plate numbers. If I remember right, the winner of "No. 5" stated immediately in his last will that if his his successors will sell this plate, all revenues again have to go to charity. With this legacy he doubled his budget volume potentially.
I think this is why Abu Dhabi plate auctions became much more prominent than the other ones, where revenues are routed into municipality budgets.

Gold Plate
Posted by Althaf, Dubai, India on Sunday 27 January 2008 at 09:41 UAE time


I think that this practice of number plate auctions should be used in a noble way by spending the auction amount towards charities locally or even around the world if possible. May be the organizers are already doing such activities which I am not aware of. Such gestures will encourage more and more rich people paricipating in the auctions.

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