DVLA's July 2024 auction was an online event that ran from Wednesday 24th July to Tuesday 30th July 2024.
As always, prices quoted in this report include fees and taxes.
July's top 5
This month's auction featured many old favourite formats and patterns that we've observed in previous sales and July's top 5 lots included some of those.
The top price paid in this sale was £54,021 for 911 FUN. Porsche 911 owners are usually well catered for at auctions, and this was just one of several 911 plates on offer.
Second place was taken by 375 L, which sold for £33,477. Plates featuring multiple instances of the letter O and/or the digit 0 are always popular, but July's auction was a little unusual in that three positions on the top seller chart were all occupied by combinations of this type. In third place was 89 OO, a nice, short, eye-catching plate at £28,328.
At number four was OO07 OOO (£27,057), which was a great example of both a multiple O/0 registration, and of a symmetrical format that has also proved very popular. Just a whisker behind, in fifth place, was 2000 O, which achieved £27,044.
Words
Amongst the strongest of this month's word registrations were OLD 80Y ('Old boy') at £21,279, BAN 91N ('Bangin'') at £19,353 and T2 UCK ('Truck') at £14,204.
EXP 101T ('Exploit') which sold for £9,081 would be a great registration for a hacker or cybersecurity specialist, while OFF 204D ('Off road') at £9,029 would be perfect for a mud-loving 4x4 enthusiast.
We rather hope that 820 KE ('Broke'), which sold for £15,488, wasn't a prediction about the purchaser's post-auction financial status.
Names
Name representations snapped up in the June auction included JAG 81R ('Jagbir') at £23,718, EK51 NGH ('EK Singh') at £16,605, KAC 1E ('Kacie') at £11,970 and LOU 71S ('Louis') at £9,749.
SYL 111E ('Sylvie'), at £9,068, is one of those plates that shouldn't really work, but which achieves an effective rendering of the name regardless. Some personal registrations owe their success to the pattern-recognition ability built into the human eye/brain as much as to the accurate placement of characters.
Amongst the best value in name plates was P41 ULA ('Paula') which, at £7,797, was a bargain. Again, the letter for letter spelling isn't exact but visually it is a really good personal plate. More and more buyers are starting to appreciate that inexact representations can be as effective as perfect spellings, at a much lower price. Again we see the human pattern recognition ability paying off.
Cars
Car references are always amongst the best represented of plate categories. We mentioned 911 FUN above, but the auction also featured other Porsche-themed numbers, such as 911 MSC at £19,995, 911 SWB at £15,501 and 911 STR at £14,730.
Of course, other brands and models weren't left out. We also saw 16 BUG (£25,773) which would work nicely on a VW Beetle but, at that price, we'd think it more likely to appear on a Bugatti. AMZ 5 (£14,345) would be a fine private plate for an Aston Martin Zagato.
Plates of mystery
There were also the usual few ambiguous plates that could be interpreted in a number of ways. SHE 24N, which sold for £21,227, may have been bought as a Sheran or Shezan name registration but, as it's Olympics season, one has to consider the reading 'She ran' a possibility.
Top 50 sales
| Plate | Price * |
|---|---|
| 911 FUN | £54,021 |
| 375 L | £33,477 |
| 89 OO | £28,328 |
| OO07 OOO | £27,057 |
| 2000 O | £27,044 |
| USY 4 | £25,927 |
| 16 BUG | £25,773 |
| 910 S | £25,760 |
| 511 X | £24,502 |
| JAG 81R | £23,718 |
| OLD 80Y | £21,279 |
| SHE 24N | £21,227 |
| 6 RUN | £20,637 |
| 123 AG | £20,033 |
| 911 MSC | £19,995 |
| 102 A | £19,687 |
| 5 SHF | £19,545 |
| BAN 91N | £19,353 |
| 111 NSS | £19,006 |
| 1 LWK | £16,811 |
| 39 VS | £16,785 |
| ESS 4A | £16,772 |
| 111 ARJ | £16,656 |
| EK51 NGH | £16,605 |
| 24 DAM | £16,207 |
| 3 TKB | £16,143 |
| 750 AB | £15,681 |
| 111 VSS | £15,514 |
| 911 SWB | £15,501 |
| 820 KE | £15,488 |
| 98 XX | £15,488 |
| 99 RV | £15,308 |
| 601 N | £15,231 |
| 911 STR | £14,730 |
| AMZ 5 | £14,345 |
| BNZ 63 | £14,332 |
| 1987 A | £14,230 |
| 444 SW | £14,217 |
| 1 XGT | £14,204 |
| T2 UCK | £14,204 |
| 333 LC | £14,204 |
| 49 WH | £13,729 |
| 170 G | £13,318 |
| OSO 1 | £13,280 |
| 23 YAN | £13,048 |
| 276 M | £13,036 |
| 105 AM | £12,946 |
| 60 KAM | £12,933 |
| 15 HYG | £12,933 |
| 10 SSG | £12,933 |
* Prices include fees and taxes.
The stats
July's DVLA online auction comprised 2000 lots, 1985 of which were sold and 15 unsold. Purchasers spent a total of £6,027,669, delivering £5,643,724 to the Treasury.
The next DVLA timed online auction will take place from Wednesday 4th September to Tuesday 10th September 2024.
More great number plate auction information
The Regtransfers auction
Buy and sell with our number plate auction. You can see what is coming soon or jump in to the listings.
DVLA June 2024 Auction
Learn more about personal number plates that sold for great prices in the DVLA's previous auction.
