MAD 4 1T: the obsessive collectors who pay big money for personalised number plates

Customised plates often cost more than the car – and yet the number of people queueing up to buy them is at an all‑time high. What’s the appeal?

‘Well, lot number 56 created quite a buzz, ladies and gentlemen … ” I’m sitting in a marquee in Chichester at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, sheltering from the summer heat. The auctioneer tells us that there have already been several telephone bids for this particular lot. Someone on the phone kicks things off with £180,000. The room holds its breath. Behind us are various astonishingly luxurious cars. One, an orange 1992 Mazda RX-7 FD Veilside Fortune Coupe, was used in the film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. All of a sudden the bidding for lot 56 is at £220,000. Now £230,000. Now £240,000 from someone online. Now £250,000. I can hear the distant vrooming of race cars tearing around a track. But lot 56 isn’t a car. It’s a number plate.

Until recently, the UK record for a number plate sold at public auction was £518,480, set in 2014 when Ferrari dealer John Collins beat the competition to get his hands on “25 O”. Private deals have been done for millions of pounds. In Dubai, “P7” sold for £12m in 2023, setting a world record. Number plates can dwarf the value of the cars on which they sit. The question is: why?