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Four number plates have been sold for a combined £68,324 in DVLA’s recent September auction.
Analysis of the auction by Regtransfers found that the plates which commanded the highest prices often included ”recognisable words, phrases or references“.
An equestrian enthusiast likely took home H80 RSE – which can be read as ‘Horse’ – for £17,644 despite its initial £200 estimate, while MAF 71A, resembling ‘Mafia’, ended at £16,778 from its £300 starting price.
A Ferrari fan was likely in the audience when P15 STA fetched £17,396 from its £200 starting price, with the plate appearing to read ‘Pista’ – a reference to the Italian brand’s iconic 488 Pista supercar.
A final plate, ‘533 YAA’, which can be perceived as ‘See Yaa,’ reached £16,506 from its £250 starting price.
The four registrations collectively achieved almost 72 times their combined starting prices.
Mark Trimbee, CEO of private registration specialist Regtransfers, said: “Buyers will pay a serious premium for a registration with personality, and though we’d be guessing at best, we imagine that the new owner of H80 RSE is most likely an equestrian enthusiast to at least some degree.”
Another plate – ‘242 A’ – was the one which reached the highest price of the whole auction when it sold for £42,116, nearly 17 times its £2,500 starting price.
Regtransfers said the buyer, or perhaps a loved one, might go by ‘Zara’ or ‘Zaza’.
This was followed by 440 O (£32,896), which doesn’t appear to adhere to the UK’s standardised number and letter registrations, and Ferrari-inspired 296 CS (£31,301).
Of the 2,000 registration plates included in the sale, which ran from September 2 to 8, 1,980 found buyers and generated £6.76 million in total.
Trimbee added: “A 99 per cent sell-through rate is a strong result by any measure, and £6.76 million from a single sale shows there’s real depth of demand in this market right now, not just at the very top end. For anyone sitting on a registration and wondering whether now is a good time to sell, results like this are a fairly clear signal.”