Auction of Personal Number Plates - October 2010

The penultimate auction of personal number plates for 2010 took place at Rudding Park in Harrogate two weeks ago.

Highest Prices:

10 O - £73,500
3 OOO - £23,000
99 A - £20,900
99 JR - £17,500
11 MYS - £16,000
1 PLK - £13,400
MA55 SEY - £12,700
G60 RGE - £12,000
79 M - £12,000
4 ONE - £12,000
LAM 80S - £11,400
1 OJB - £11,100
88 W - £11,000
1 WWB - £11,000
1 PNH - £11,000

Prices shown are the actual hammer prices on the day and do not include the buyer's premium, v.a.t. or the DVLA transfer fee.

There were 1500 registrations for sale over the three days of the auction. 91 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid, whilst 312 registrations were sold at the reserve or opening bid price.

Every time we approach an auction, I wonder will this be the one where personal number plates prices weaken to reflect what is happening in the wider economy. We are sitting on large cash reserves at Simply Registrations, patiently waiting for the right number plates at the right prices. Once again we did not manage to pick up the quantity of registrations we would have liked.

The very first registration to be offered, 99 A, gave us a clue that this wasn't a bargain hunters auction when it sold for £20,900. I spoke to some of the other dealers who are happily buying stock number plates at current prices. The general opinion is we may not see real bargain prices any time soon. The softening in the market happened nearly two years ago and prices have been on the up ever since.

The next auction of personal number plates will be held in the first week of December. I keep saying it, but maybe it really is time to jump in and pay the market price required to get some quality number plates for our own stock.