The second auction of personalised number plates for 2011 took place a few weeks ago in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
Highest prices:
108 AL - £26,000
1 HGH - £14,600
90 S - £13,000
82 M - £11,700
13 O - £11,500
99 AM - £11,200
AAM 4N - £11,000
72 Y - £10,600
99 B - £10,500
1 FJL - £10,300
88 H - £10,100
1111 V - £9,800
BAD 114L - £9,800
111 JCH - £9,200
98 C - £9,200
Prices shown are hammer prices and do not include buyer's premium, v.a.t. or the DVLA transfer fee.
Of the 1500 registrations offered for sale over the three days of the auction, 187 failed to get a bid and remained unsold. 359 registrations were sold at the opening bid or reserve price.
108 AL, a resemblance of the name IQBAL was the star of the show achieving a hammer price of £26,000. Those with good memories may recall 108 AL being offered at auction back in August 2008. A quick look back at the auction results post on the Personal Number Plates Blog shows that the hammer came down at £31,000 nearly three years ago. We can only presume that the winning bidder at the August 2008 auction failed to make payment for the registration.
The auctions generally take place over three days; Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. This latest auction began on a Tuesday which caught at least one dealer out. He arrived at Rudding Park, Harrogate on the Tuesday afternoon to check-in to the hotel for a three day stay. He was surprised to learn so many fellow dealers had already arrived and checked-in 'early' when he walked in to the hotel bar on the Tuesday evening. Hopefully he didn't have too many important client bids for the first five-hundred lots that were offered on the first day of the auction!
There is another change at the next auction of personalised number plates which takes place at the Heritage Motor Museum, Warwickshire in May. The auction runs Thursday to Saturday. The aim is to attract more visitors in person to the auction, hence the reason for one of the auction days being a Saturday.
Visitors to the auction in person are noticebly lower since the introduction of the internet bidding facility alongside written bids and telephone bids. It is our opinion at the Personal Number Plates Blog, that it is only a matter of time until the auctions become 'virtual' altogether. The cost savings would surely be very attractive to a government which is looking to save money wherever there is an opportunity to do so.
