RTA to auction 350 premium number plates: Here’s a look at UAE’s 5 most expensive

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is gearing up for its 76th online auction, offering a coveted collection of 350 premium number plates for private vehicles. The highly-anticipated event will feature number plates in three, four, and five digits, boasting a range of letter codes – A, B, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X and Z Codes.

When is it?

Registration opens on Monday, July 22.

Bidding starts at 8 a.m. on Monday, July 29 and continues for five days.

How to participate?

To participate, you need to have the following:

• Valid Dubai traffic file
• AED 5,000 security cheque payable to RTA
• Non-refundable participation fee of AED 120

You can make payments at the customer happiness centers in Umm Al Ramool, Al Barsha, or Deira. Alternatively, payments can be made by credit card via RTA’s website.

Number plates have become coveted status symbols surpassing traditional markers of wealth in the GCC. The UAE dominates the market for luxury number plates, claiming four of the 10 most valuable worldwide.

Here are five of the most expensive number plates in the UAE:

P7 : $15M

Dubai's P7 license plate, the most expensive number plate in the UAE, shattered world records by selling for a staggering $15 million at a charity auction in April 2023.

Emirates Auction LLC sold the plate number in April 2023 during a charity auction that pledged 1 Billion Meals Endowment.

1 : $14.2M

UAE businessman Saeed Al Khouri set a world record in 2008 by purchasing the "1" number plate for $14.2M at a charity auction in Abu Dhabi. The remarkable bid, 50 times the starting price, held the title of the world's most expensive number plate until April 2023.

Emirates Auction Number plate 1youtu.be

AA9 : $10.3M

The coveted AA9 number plate fetched a whopping $10.3 million at the Most Noble Numbers auction in Dubai in 2021. This record-breaking sale, initiated by RTA, contributed significantly to the One Billion Meals Campaign.

AA8 : $ 9.5M

The owner of AA8 is also the unnamed Emirati man who now holds the record for the world's most expensive plate yet sold – Dubai P7.

The car with AA8 number plate

D5 : $ 9M

Property developer Balwinder Sahni's penchant for lucky numbers led him to purchase the D5 license plate for a staggering $9 million in October 2016. Believing that D, the fourth letter of the alphabet, combined with 5 equals his lucky number 9, Sahni added this coveted plate to his collection of Rolls-Royces.