Tuesday 18 February 2014

The Childish Game Of Number Plates

Sharjah passenger pl8, United Arab Emirates
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sarah and I for some time now have been playing a most diverting and totally childish game - number plate spotting. It's remarkable how seriously a 'good number' is taken here in the Emirates - landline, PO Box, mobile, number plate. All of these should reflect a chap's status and so, ideally, be in single figures or failing that all the same digit or otherwise auspicious. A palindrome is always good...

Car license plates in the UAE consist of a single letter and then a number. A pilot with A 777 is therefore top banana, while H 71534 is a complete duffer altogether. Clearly, a number like 25 denotes super-star status and we have actually seen one such number plate pull a massive wheelspin in front of police officers who initially started towards their bikes then saw the plate and just shrugged it off.

You'll often see the swankier breed of car on the UAE's roads sporting 30503 or 12121 and we have taken to giggling at those who have just missed the mark, for instance a Lambo with a 24749 plate has us laughing and doing 'You had one job...' impersonations.

Yeah, it probably is time we went home...

Anyway, The National today reports on the latest number plate auction in Dubai, where a bunch of two-digit plates are expected to fetch Dhs250,000 (about $68,500). That's not the whole story, though - the RTA has published a list of the plates it's got up for grabs this time around (it's by no means their first auction, the boys at the RTA have been making pin money this way for years) and we can see that Dhs 3,000 ($822) gets you a relatively unexciting H33311 while upping the ante a bit to Dhs 40,000 ($10,950) will net you 0 50005 which is a pretty neat plate, all things considered. Start getting serioo with the amount you're prepared to shell out, and you start seeing real results: Dhs 120,000 (almost $33,000) could see you sporting three figure plates, in this case M 202 or N 707.

Although I must confess, neither of those really 'do it' for me.

If you're keen on holding the clean end of the stick, you can go for I 98, L 51 or N 34. Those are the biggies. The full list of plates, just in case you're interested, is linked here. Personally, I think the Dhs40k for 0 50005 is the best deal. Anyway, happy bidding!
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5 comments:

Aqeel Fikree said...

You know the saying, if everyone's special, then no one is.

I'll go for anything that comes out of the dealers any day of the week, no questions asked.

Alexander said...

Ah, but then you are in so many ways an atypical Emirati! >;0)

Anonymous said...

I am fortunate to have an early code two digit number late, issued way before actions. However, due to all the hype/observations it creates I always feel that I have to be extra careful to not set the wrong example. To think of it, its not easy living with one, thats why its not on my daily driver.

Aqeel Fikree said...

Alex, I hope that's a good thing :)

I prefer to be me, and not like everyone else. I mean nature did intend it to be that way, right?

Gregor Stuart Hunter said...

Seeing the licence plate "ADHD" in Hong Kong was a bit of a thrill

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