DVLA Auction report for November 2023

DVLA's November 2023 auction was an online event that ran from Wednesday 22nd November to Tuesday 28th November.

As always, prices quoted in this report include fees and taxes.

Top registrations

Despite the proximity to Christmas, or maybe because of it, buyers were spending a little more this time. The top price was achieved by a number one initials plate, BSK 1, at £68,145. That's £20,000 more than the highest price paid at the previous auction.

Second place went to 151 AM ("Islam") at £40,539, and third place to HAY 9R ("Hayer") which made £38,600. Fourth was taken by 992 ST (£35,467), no doubt acquired for its Porsche reference, and in fifth place was 1 XAM (£32,206).

Name number plates

As we saw above, "Islam" and "Hayer" were the first name registrations in the rankings. Of course, "Islam" could also have been purchased as a reference to the faith. The next apparent name number was 44 YUB (Aayub) in 16th place overall at £22,743. Other names that sold included D47 CEY ("Darcey") at £10,352, DNE 4L ("D Neal" or "O'Neal") at £9,646, PAU 111B ("Paul B") at £9,119, H46 RRY ("Harry") at £7,797, RD51 NGH ("R D Singh") also at £7,797 and BR20 OWN ("Brown") at £6,513.

Lost for words?

There were, perhaps, fewer notable word registrations than we're accustomed to seeing. The top sum paid for a recognisable word was GH05 STT ("ghost") which went for £21,279. 247 GAS (£20,637) obviously spells "gas" but we have no idea if it was purchased for that by a business wanting to advertise 24/7 service, or if it was chosen as an initials plate. FUS 3D ("fused") sold for £12,933. HAG 911S (£9,338) works as "haggis" or as a Porsche plate for someone with the initials HAG.

Surprisingly controversial

We've written several times about DVLA's tendency to censor number plate releases by removing registrations that could be offensive or controversial. Commonly withheld or withdrawn numbers include those containing apparent references to religion, crime, sex, violence, profanity, drugs, terrorism etc. In light of this track record, we were very surprised indeed to note the inclusion of ASA 551N (£16,207) in the auction. We suspect the purchaser may be keeping several fingers crossed that DVLA doesn't reconsider and withdraw the plate. There is precedent as they have taken that step in the past.

The stats

November's DVLA online auction comprised 2,500 lots, 2,467 of which were sold and 33 unsold. Purchasers spent a total of £6,822,543, delivering £4,864,164 to the treasury.

Plate	Price *
BSK 1	£68,145
151 AM	£40,539
HAY 9R	£38,600
992 ST	£35,467
1 XAM	£32,206
150 A	£32,193
11 PAV	£29,625
7 XW	£29,368
9 XV	£28,983
9 TOY	£27,057
11 ANH	£25,773
FFO 1	£25,773
410 O	£25,773
115 M	£24,360
5005 OO	£22,948
44 YUB	£22,743
76 XX	£21,921
GH05 STT	£21,279
87 FM	£20,881
241 NM	£20,701
247 GAS	£20,637
1313 A	£20,021
7 ESH	£19,224
13 JSR	£18,082
4 EEM	£18,069
104 AJ	£17,054
112 AK	£16,772
ASA 551N	£16,207
296 B	£16,169
3 OCM	£16,156
121 JB	£16,143
990 G	£15,758
YAH 9A	£15,629
82 GO	£15,604
2 OMS	£15,488
65 SWB	£15,013
104 J	£14,859
54 DAM	£14,345
45 DPM	£14,217
155 MYL	£14,217
901 N	£14,217
25 UU	£14,050
812 FSF	£13,960
LDU 1S	£13,909
SSH 10	£13,703
KED 1A	£13,575
1 OMP	£13,575
VVV 4	£13,575
111 UCK	£13,061
10 JWH	£12,971