If you are new to the number plate game you might not be aware of the DVLA’s personalised number plate auctions. These are the auctions where the DVLA sell off a selection of the vast number of registrations never been issued to the public. In other words, if you buy a number plate from an auction you will be the first owner, which is why good deals are to be had.
As a number plate dealer I buy a lot of my stock this way, and for a member of the public it is perfect for getting a great plate at a decent price. The November auction will be hosted at The Vale Resort in Cardiff and will run from the 26th to the 28th. Below I have listed 10 marks that have caught my eye and the Estimate Price* I reckon we’ll see on the day. You can grab the full list of plates available here.
(* = Hammer price before fees.) Image may be NSFW.
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#1: POR 991T (Lot No: 1133)
Meaning: Porsche 991 Turbo
Reserve: £400
Estimate Price: £1,500
There is a few Porsche plates in this auction, one very good that I will mention later, but I expect this one to be quite a steal at £1,500, especially if you have the matching car. I think the price will stay down because the model is still very new so it is not very widely driven yet, but it might only take two or three owners showing up to make things pick up. In case that happens though there are a few more in the same auction: 111 POR, POR 217T, POR 711A and POR 993X.
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#2: FU11 TON (Lot No: 479)
Meaning: Fullton, Fulton
Reserve: £900
Estimate Price: £2,600
I’ve estimated this to go quite low because it is not a hugely popular surname, but it is about as close as you could possibly get to “Fulton”/“Fullton” so I imagine a bunch of people will be trying their hand. It only takes two or three bidders with deep pockets to create a bidding war that could see this go for a lot more, but if so it is not the end of the world as F111 TON will also be available a few lots later.
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#3: BE11 AMY (Lot No: 127)
Meaning: Bellamy
Reserve: £1,000
Estimate Price: £5,000
It is hard to predict what these sorts of plate go for because there are very few plates to compare it to. For the name, “Bellamy”, it is perfect so it really depends on who is there on the day. £5,000 is quite a conservative prediction, but as I mentioned earlier it just takes two or three affluent bidders to make it fly way above that. I can pretty much guarantee that the plate will be back on the market a couple of years from now at a five-figure price.
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#4: 25 OOO (Lot No: 1063)
Meaning: 25000
Reserve: £3,000
Estimate Price: £5,500
I always like looking out for these are they always go quite decently. There is even a rumour going around that the same party is buying them all at each auction. Looking at the history we’ve had 20 OOO go at £5.5k, 21 OOO at £5k and 22 OOO at £5.5k, so this should be a pretty safe bet at our estimated price. However, sometimes you never can predict as 23 OOO went at £9k. Maybe this registration will have similar fortunes?
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#5: WEL 55H (Lot No: 1498)
Meaning: Welsh
Reserve: £1,000
Estimate Price: £6,000
It is not the only “Welsh”/“Wales” plate coming available, there is also W44 LES, WEL 6H and WA11 LES coming up in the same auction, but this one in particular grabbed my attention because the WEL 5H sold at over £27,000 when it went to auction several years ago. This is definitely one to watch, as the result could be surprising. I doubt it will get anywhere near to price of its shorter counterpart though.
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#6: CA11 LUM (Lot No: 205)
Meaning: Callum, Calum
Reserve: £900
Estimate Price: £8,000
I could be underestimating this number plate because it isn’t the perfect spelling of “Callum” (three L’s), but it is a pretty tidy number plate. A quick look on the market shows that other plates referring to this name are going for as high as £40,000 so there is definite investment opportunity. Plus, if you want a “Callum” plate and do not want to pay that sort of price this might just be your last chance to get one cheaper. However, I do know C411 UM* plates are still available.
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#7: RH14 NNA (Lot No: 1199)
Meaning: Rhianna
Reserve: £1,000
Estimate Price: £12,000
I cannot wait for this one. It is very hard to pick a price on this because there has never been anything like that name that has gone through auction before. R14 NNA is on the private market at over £10,000, but this is perfect for the name. Everyone is thinking the obvious, that the popstar will want it, but she does not live in the country, so who realistically will be bidding on it? People called “Rhianna”, those who have named their daughter “Rhianna”, maybe even people who hope to sell it to the popstar one day. My prediction? Lots of bidders, but most of them will not bid high. Will it break £10k? I think so, but I can definitely see most bidders dropping out before it gets anywhere near that.
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#8: 911 GTS (Lot No: 544)
Meaning: Porsche 911 GTS
Reserve: £1,900
Estimate Price: £12,000
I reckon this will break into five figures no problem, eclipsing my estimated price. The Porsche 911 is a very popular car so there are bound to be a lot of interest from owners and dealers alike. To give you an idea a new model will cost you upwards of £90,000, so I guarantee they’ll be a lot of people with the money to spend. You can also bet that it will increase the value of a car that is being resold too, perfect investment.
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#9: MC14 REN (Lot No: 902)
Meaning: McLaren
Reserve: £5,000
Estimate Price: £15,000
This could be go for anything. Definitely one that will break five figures because of a double meaning – it is a surname and could also refer to the F1 team. I wouldn’t be surprised if a representative of McLaren is actually there to bid for it. That said, it might be one that has a very high resale value but goes for cheaper than expected, it is an obvious target for people trying to get an investment number plate.
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#1o: RO13 SON (Lot No: 1218)
Meaning: Robson
Reserve: £1,000
Estimate Price: £20,000
This is the big one. The name is very common and this registration is absolutely perfect for it. We know it is going to be popular as well because we had well over a hundred people contact us about it when the 13-issue registrations were about to be released, many of them telling us they would pay upwards of £10,000 to get hold of it. Since then though more people will have 13-reg vehicles and more people will have realised that it was coming up for auction. Like with RH14 NNA I expect there will be a room full of bidders, but I reckon they’ll be a handful of people willing to bid high. I would not be surprised if it surpassed our estimated price by some distance, in fact.
What are your predictions for the upcoming auction? Are there any plates you are looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!
By Peter Jepson
The post 10 Interesting Plates in the DVLA’s November Auction appeared first on National Numbers Blog.