Dubai: world’s most expensive car license plate auctioned for $15mn
A wealthy buyer has dropped a record-breaking 55 million dirhams ($15 million) for a car license plate in Dubai, smashing a bar set in the United Arab Emirates more than a decade ago, reported Bloomberg on Monday.
Emirates Auction LLC sold plate number ‘P 7’ — which, at first glance, looks like the number 7 alone, with the P far off to the side — on Saturday during a charity auction, added the report. The winning bid was placed at the end of a fiercely fought bidding war among guests at the Four Seasons resort in Jumeirah, reported Khaleej Times.
Proceeds will go to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s global food aid initiative, the 1 Billion Meals Endowment.
Vanity plates are popular at auctions in the UAE, where they are often secured by the ultra-rich to show off their status and wealth, for charity.
The past weekend’s auction broke a record set in 2008 by local businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri, who paid 52.2 million dirhams for a plate bearing the number ‘1’ in Abu Dhabi.
The identity of the weekend’s auction winner was not disclosed.
Vanity plates have also fetched record-breaking prices at auctions outside of the Middle East. Earlier this year, an individual bought a plate containing a single-letter –‘R’, in Hong Kong for HK$25.5 million ($3.2 million).
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For years now, Dubai has operated as a haven for the ultra-rich to enjoy their wealth while benefiting from a tax-free lifestyle.
While other parts of the world worry about an economic downturn, the emirate’s economy remains strong — with high oil prices benefiting its neighbours and most important customers. An influx of wealth has buoyed the real-estate market.
Even moderately-paid expats splash out on cars they can newly afford thanks to lower sales tax rates than back home. But the recent Covid-era boom has driven up rents and squeezed middle-class residents.
Businessman Balvinder Singh Sahni, known as Abu Sabah, purchased plate ‘D 5’ in 2016 for 33 million dirhams. “Dubai is a city of gold,” he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
“It’s a city of big people, secure people, nice people. So everybody wants to show their status.”
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Sahni recounted when he first visited the luxury hotel Burj Al Arab in 2006, he was refused entry because his car license plate had too many numbers.
He was told he needed either a two-digit number plate — or a reservation. “It was always my dream to have a single-digit number,” he was further quoted as saying. “When I got the chance, and they told me this money all goes to charity, I went all in.”
A self-described numbers guy, Sahni reasoned that the ‘D 5’ plate was a good fit for him because his favorite number is nine, and if you add ‘D’ (the fourth letter of the alphabet) with five, you get nine.
The plate can be transferred to any car registered in the emirate, supercar or not.
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