THE PRICE IS HIGH
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After you've bought the Jag or the Merc, the next status symbol to acquire is the personalised number plate. But with everyone striving for individuality and originality, the price can be high.
At a recent number plate auction in Northern Ireland the licence plate MIL 2000 was snapped up for a cool £10,500. It was rumoured to have been bought by a local number plate dealer as a millennium present for his wife. More than 200 bidders took part in the auction of special number plates which was organised by Wilson's Auctions in Mullask on behalf of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency Northern Ireland.
The 350 plates on sale fetched a total of around £300,000-other notable numbers were RIL 1 at £5,900, HIL 5 at £5,500 and VAZ 1 at £5,000 (don't ask me why: I'm none the wiser either.
However sometimes it's not so much loot you need as luck. There were 27 bidders for 00-02000 and the winner, who was
drawn by lot, only had to cough up £250.
The record price for a number plate sold in Northern Ireland stands at £28,280 (for OIL 1). Are they mad? Just think how many Reliant Robins you could get for that
Mind you, if anyone happened to come across the registration HAWK 1, the old bird might be prepared to enter into negotiations. Once the wallet is out of mothballs the bidding could reach as high as, oh, maybe a termer?