The registration number of a vehicle is a unique set of numbers and characters that is assigned to a vehicle when it is registered. Without a proper registration number, you cannot legally drive a car on our roads. Many people don’t care much when they look for registration numbers. We usually take what we are offered however, there are a section of car buyers who take it very seriously and look for fancy numbers or choose numbers on the basis of numerology. These fancy numbers are often a great source of revenue for RTOs as they put them out for auction and the highest bidder gets to take the number. There are people in India, who have spent lakhs for just the registration numbers. Turns out, we are not the only ones who have a craze for this. A person from the United Kingdom has spent a huge amount for a registration number that says “F1”. He spent around Rs 132 crore for the number.
In the United Kingdom, F1 registration number have always been popular among car owners. As this is an extremely popular number, it is awarded to owners for a limited period of time only. This registration has been spotted on many high-end performance cars like Bugatti Veyron, Mercedes-McLaren SLR and so on. F1 number plate as many of you would have already guessed denotes Formula 1 racing. It is one of the most celebrated motorsports event around the world. Another reason why this is popular is because UK government does not offer any digits or alphabets on this registration plate other than F1. This makes it one of the shortest registration number for a vehicle in the world.
Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500
The F1 regitration plate was initially owned by Essex City Council since 1904. This registration came up for auction in 2008 for the first time. The number is currently owned by UK-based Kahn Designs owner, Afzal Khan. He bought the number for his Bugatti Veyron and paid around Rs 132 crores for the number. This is actually a lot more expensive than the car itself. Bugatti Veyron as we all know is itself a very expensive car in itself.
When this number came up for auction in 2008, it was sold for Rs 4 crore. Slowly people started realising the exclusivity of the number and the desire to make theirs also went up. This along with the inflation made F1 one of the most expensive registration numbers in the world. This is not something that has been reported in UK only. We have seen similar trends in India where a Fortuner owner spent almost Rs 30 lakh for a fancy number for his SUV. This is a common trend in other parts of the world as well. For example in Abu Dhabi, a businessman from India bought a registration number that said D5 for Rs 67 crore INR. When you compare it with F1 registration number it may not looks too expensive but, the owner did spent crores. Another Abu-Dhabi based businessman bought registration number “1” by paying Rs 66 crore.
Also read: Upcoming 2022 Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza rendered