DVLA's September 2022 auction was held from Wednesday 7th to Tuesday 13th September. As has been usual since the Covid pandemic began, this was an online event.
It was an interesting auction compared to the previous DVLA auction. While there was a slight dearth of really spectacular name or number 1 plates this time, there were some great conversation pieces and a few real head-scratchers. As always, we found ourselves lacking a crystal ball or the ability to read buyers' minds so, when it comes to reasons for bidding, we can really only speculate.
A personal plate for the biggest Top Gear fan
The top sale price was £54,303, achieved by 571 G. As you may have guessed already, our assumption is that it was snapped up by a Top Gear fan who fancied owning their own "Stig" plate. It would be interesting to see what kind of vehicle the number ends up on: something fast, one would hope.
A little further down the rankings came 570 CKS, achieving £25,760. Stocks is both a name and a word so it's tricky guessing the specific appeal of that one to its buyer. BMT 216D at £24,553 took us a while to figure out, but eventually we decided it was most likely bought by a James Bond fan as a tribute to the iconic spy's famous Aston Martin DB5 which bore the number BMT 216A.
Although there were no record breakers to be had, the catalogue did include some decent name numbers. and MY12 TLE (£10,365) is just about the best version of Myrtle one could hope to find.
Did this private registration slip the ban net?
Of particular interest to us was the number AFG 4N. We are aware that DVLA previously identified it as one held back as inappropriate for issue. We all we know that DVLA do decline to issue certain registrations, purportedly to avoid releasing numbers that could be seen as alluding to violence, terrorism, drugs, bigotry, crime etc. However, application of their filtering process seems patchy and rather inconsistent. We accept that both human and algorithmic censors may allow things to slip through their nets, and new areas of potential sensitivity may come to light too late to prevent some numbers appearing on the road. All that said, we were puzzled when they refused to issue AFG 4N.
"Afghan" is an adjective pertaining to a nationality, as in Afghan hound or Afghan coat (showing our age and hippy past there...). Unless DVLA considers any tenuous reference to Afghanistan to be somehow offensive (an attitude that some would find offensive in itself) then we don't know why they refused to issue it. We are equally puzzled by their apparent U-turn and decision to release it into this auction.
Surprising killer number plate
Another plate we were surprised to see released into the September auction was ASA 551N (£29,625). This one pretty clearly looks like "assassin", and is exactly the kind of plate we would expect DVLA to ban. Its inclusion in this month's sale rather leads us to wonder if we will soon see DVLA issuing plates that imply the roles of executioner, murderer, gangster, burglar, mugger, drug dealer etc.
DVLA hope to hold the October auction as a live venue event. If all goes according to plan the location will be Oxford Belfry Hotel, Milton Common, Nr Thame, Oxfordshire. OX9 2JW and the dates of the sale will be Wednesday 19th to Friday 21st October 2022.
Here is the table of the top sales from the September 2022 DVLA auction
| Plate | Price |
|---|---|
| 571 G | £54,303 |
| 296 GTS | £52,737 |
| 7 OPG | £38,741 |
| ASA 551N | £29,625 |
| 950 B | £25,786 |
| 570 CKS | £25,760 |
| 777 SA | £25,760 |
| 450 O | £25,542 |
| BMT 216D | £24,553 |
| 180 J | £23,205 |
| AFG 4N | £21,921 |
| 1001 OO | £20,059 |
| 27 YK | £20,008 |
| 88 NK | £19,353 |
| 9 TSB | £19,353 |
| 76 JAH | £19,340 |
| LAU 73N | £19,340 |
| 81 MRN | £18,711 |
| 4 ODM | £18,261 |
| 841 M | £18,210 |
| 3 OOG | £18,210 |
| 2 KKB | £18,133 |
| 111 ASP | £17,684 |
| 123 MS | £17,491 |
| ROC 1N | £17,491 |
| 17 FAN | £17,427 |
| 54 NY | £17,414 |
| 425 X | £17,157 |
| 2 OMM | £17,042 |
| BE17 TLY | £16,785 |
| 54 NJJ | £16,271 |
| 1 TJY | £16,143 |
| MS54 LMA | £16,014 |
| SGM 15 | £14,872 |
| 1000 T | £14,859 |
| 110 OOO | £14,679 |
| 2 THM | £14,628 |
| GUN 12G | £14,409 |
| 24 UU | £14,230 |
| CAK 3D | £14,217 |
| 9 KEL | £14,217 |
| 5 MEB | £13,703 |
| 1 KXD | £13,511 |
| WHZ 1 | £13,434 |
| VSL 8 | £13,061 |
| 5 MLR | £12,997 |
| SOM 41A | £12,933 |
| 1 XWX | £12,933 |
| BU22 OWS | £12,920 |
| SOU 11A | £12,920 |
Prices include fees and taxes.
More great number plate auction information
The Regtransfers auction
Buy or Sell using our own terrific auction service. View our current listings or learn more about the auction.
The DVLA July/August 2022 Auction
Learn more about personal number plates that sold for great prices in the DVLA's previous auction.
