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The world's most expensive number plates

Highest prices paid for the world's most expensive personal number plates.

What is the most expensive number plate in the world?

The answer is that the Dubai number plate P 7 is the world's most expensive confirmed sale of a car registration number to date.

The UK market continues to grow and there are signs that top British prices could soon approach the levels seen in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is widely believed that the legendary number A 1 would command a price in excess of £1m should it come onto the market and businessman Afzal Kahn, owner of F 1, claims to have turned down an offer of £6m for that registration.

The World's most expensive number plate

Highest prices paid for personal number plates worldwide

The top 50 highest priced private car registrations globally are shown in the table below.

Ranking sales that occurred in different currencies at different times is difficult, so we have ranked this table according to the converted price in UK pounds. In each case, conversion is at the exchange rate prevailing at the time the sale occurred.

# Registration Price (GBP) Local price Location Year
1 P 7 £12,000,000 AED 55m Dubai 2023
2 AA 9 £7,620,140 AED 38m Dubai 2021
3 AA 8 £7,497,781 AED 35m Dubai 2022
4 DD 5 £7,361,004 AED 35m Dubai 2025
5 D 5 £7,324,207 AED 33m Dubai 2016
6 5 1 £7,250,000 AED 52.2m Abu Dhabi 2008
7 NSW 1 £6,439,044 AUD 12.4m Australia 2024
8 1 E £5,165,930 SAR 24m Saudi Arabia 2024
9 2 2 £4,991,380 AED 23.3m Abu Dhabi 2022
10 O 9 £4,363,000 AED 25m Dubai 2015
11 8 5 £3,500,000 AED 25.2m Abu Dhabi 2007
12
Q
1
£3,156,639 AUD 6.08m Australia 2024
13 5 7 £3,000,000 AED 16.8m Abu Dhabi 2010
14 50 7 £2,958,057 AED 13.4m Abu Dhabi 2016
15 R £2,694,349 HKD 25.5m Hong Kong 2023
16 DD 12 £2,692,730 AED 12.8m Abu Dhabi 2025
17 DD 77 £2,650,656 AED 12.6m Abu Dhabi 2025
18 W £2,421,016 HKD 26m Hong Kong 2021
19 0 9 £2,379,706 AED 13.4m Abu Dhabi 2015
20 6 9 £2,153,846 AED 15.4m Abu Dhabi 2008
21 1 V £2,144,015 SAR 10m Saudi Arabia 2024
22 1 2 £2,061,850 AED 10m Abu Dhabi 2017
23 D £2,042,182 HKD 20.2m Hong Kong 2024
24 DD 15 £1,935,624 AED 9.2m Abu Dhabi 2025
25 AA 22 £1,828,418 AED 8.4m Dubai 2023
26 6 9 £1,720,000 AED 10m Abu Dhabi 2010
27 AA 17 £1,672,619 AED 8.02m Duabi 2024
28 28 £1,616,000 HKD 18.1m Hong Kong 2016
29 6 7 £1,583,333 AED 11.4m Abu Dhabi 2008
30 AA16 £1,565,878 AED 7.32m Dubai 2024
31 18 £1,513,372 HKD 16.5m Hong Kong 2008
32 NSW 4 £1,500,000 AUD 2.4m Australia 2017
33 S £1,450,000 HKD 14.2m Hong Kong 2025
34 BB 55 £1,363,584 AED 6.3m Dubai 2024
35 1 11 £1,346,578 AED 6.1m Abu Dhabi 2016
36 VIC 14 £1,346,485 AUD 2.38m Australia 2022
37 V £1,341,589 HKD 13m Hong Kong 2017
38 AA 21 £1,333,282 AED 6.1m Dubai 2024
39 DD 24 £1,325,180 AED 1.63m Dubai 2025
40 VIC 20 £1,321,384 AUD 2.54m Australia 2024
41 AA 69 £1,283,507 AED 6m Dubai 2024
42 12 £1,240,000 AED 8.9m Abu Dhabi 2010
43 SA 8 £1,177,122 AUD 2.3m Australia 2024
44 88 £1,162,959 HKD 11.4m Hong Kong 2025
45 19 £1,107,325 AED 6.5m Abu Dhabi 2009
46 11 £1,098,901 AED 8m Abu Dhabi 2007
47 BB 100 £1,082,246 AED 5m Dubai 2024
48 AA 19 £1,066,577 AED 4.9m Dubai 2023
49 2 £999,985 HKD 9.5m Hong Kong 1993
50 10 £993,377 AED 4.5m Abu Dhabi 2016
Asterisk (✱) denotes where the series is uncertain.

Assessing the most-expensive rankings is a complicated process. Variations in currency exchange rates over time result in some apparent anomalies. This is why a registration that sold for AED 38 million may rank higher than one that sold for AED 52.2 million: we rank according to the price in British pounds as converted from the sale price in local currency at the rate that was current at the time of the sale.

Representation of the Dubai registration number 1

I have collected 10 number plates so far and I am looking forward to having more. It's a passion.

Balwinder Sahani

World rank: 4

£7,324,207 (AED 33m)

Dubai, 2016

Representation of the Abu Dhabi registration number 1

The price is fair. After all, who among us does not want to be number one?

Saeed Abdel Ghaffar Khouri

World rank: 5

£7,250,000 (AED 52.2m)

Abu Dhabi, 2008

Conspicuous omissions

Readers who have encountered other articles claiming to list the world's most expensive plates may notice two conspicuous omissions from the table on this page. Reports that the Qatar number 333355 was sold in 2014 for QR 200m (£35m) have turned out to be spurious. Abdulla Matar Al Mannaei of Emirates Auctions told Regtransfers that the 'sale' was in fact a system error, so that entry has been removed from the rankings.

Similarly, the reported sale, in November 2016, of an Abu Dhabi number (5) 1 registration for AED 31m (£6.84m) has been removed from the table. The would-be purchaser admitted to writing a cheque that he did not have the funds to cover and was subsequently convicted of fraud.

Full details of some sales are difficult to present clearly due to peculiarities of local licence plate systems and the rather vague nature of some news reports. For example, numbers such as Abu Dhabi's 7 and 11 appear more than once in the table. This is because the same number may be issued in more than one series or category. News reports generally omit reference to the category, announcing only the main number.

The situation is similar in Australia where different states may issue the same numbers. The sale reported internationally as NSW 4, was referred to in many Australian publications simply as registration number 4.

Sources: www.emlratesauction.com/en/, www.td.gov.uk/en/home, www.gulfnews.com, www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, www.arabianbusiness.com, www.middleeasteye.net, www.indianexpress.com, www.jewishbusinessnews.com, www.standard.co.uk, www.khaleejtimes.com, www.bbc.co.uk, www.news.com.au.

We are grateful to Emirates Auctions and the Hong Kong Transport Department for the information provided.

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