World’s most expensive car number plate sells for £12m 

Here in the UK we love our private number plates with personalised plates bringing in billions of pounds to the UK Treasury since their inception. It’s not just Brits that love to add a personal touch to their car either because the global record for most expensive number plate ever sold has just been broken in Dubai. 

Although a private number plate is typically a public way of displaying wealth, the identity of the highest bidder on this occasion was kept anonymous. The plate read ‘P 7’, which in Dubai reads ‘7’ due to the number plate design. 

It’s not the first time the ‘7’ has been in high demand as a number plate, with the numeral seen as lucky in many cultures around the world. Back in 2016, a ‘7’ number plate sold for £2.96m in the United Arab Emirates having previously been sold for £3m in 2010. The top nine most expensive plates in the world are all from the UAE. The previous record holder was the number plate ‘1’ which local businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri paid £7.2m for in 2008. The plate sat on cars like the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Mercedes G-Wagen.

These numbers dwarf the kind of cash paid for UK number plates but there have still been some pricey domestic registrations change hands in the past. The current record holder is thought to be ‘25 0’, which was sold for £518,480 in 2014. 

The proceeds of the charity auction went to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid's foundation, the 1 Billion Meals Endowment.
Now find out how you can cash in on personalised number plates…