Happy new year!
As we enter 2023 and look forward to another calendar full of DVLA number plate auctions, I wanted to take a look back at the last year of personalised registration auctions as a whole and dive into the results.
DVLA Registration Auction Statistics 2022
In 2022 there were 18,000 number plates up for grabs via DVLA auction. All but 228 of these plates were successfully sold.
This raked in almost £45 million in successful sales, not including VAT and other fees.
The highest price achieved for a number plate was £78,010 which, after auction fees, comes to a total of £100,244.
The lowest priced plates all sold for £200, or £336 after fees. There were 765 number plates that sold for this figure.
Across all successful sales, the average price paid for a number plate in 2022 was £2,521 before fees.
Most Expensive Number Plates 2022
Let’s take a look at the 25 most expensive number plates sold in 2022.
I’ll also be using publicly available data (courtesy of MOT Tools) to see if these plates have been assigned to vehicles, and what model of vehicle they’re currently used on (as of writing).
PAT 3K Sold for £78,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
75 O Sold for £70,010 +fees. Currently on a 2022 LAND ROVER DEFENDER X MHEV AUTO.
PAK 157N Sold for £63,910 +fees. Currently on a 2022 TESLA MODEL Y PERFORMANCE AWD.
66 O Sold for £63,110 +fees. Currently unassigned.
53 NGH Sold for £61,010 +fees. Currently on a 2018 LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER SPORT.
51 TES Sold for £60,130 +fees. Currently unassigned.
41 O Sold for £57,120 +fees. Currently on a 2021 MERCEDES-BENZ S 350 GRAND ED EXECUTIVE.
8 CH Sold for £56,100 +fees. Currently unassigned.
1 YSD Sold for £53,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
1 VLK Sold for £50,110 +fees. Currently unassigned.
8 TOY Sold for £43,010 +fees. Currently on a 2016 LAND ROVER DEFENDER.
571 G Sold for £42,230 +fees. Currently unassigned.
296 GTS Sold for £41,010 +fees. Currently on a 2022 FERRARI 296 GTB.
CSK 1 Sold for £40,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
1 YUM Sold for £37,120 +fees. Currently unassigned.
SA22 RAH Sold for £35,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
1 OSM Sold for £35,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
35 BUG Sold for £32,680 +fees. Currently unassigned.
11 MSK Sold for £32,040 +fees. Currently unassigned.
7 OPG Sold for £30,110 +fees. Currently unassigned.
OP71 ONS Sold for £30,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
1 WVV Sold for £29,600 +fees. Currently on a 2021 LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER EVOQUE.
333 O Sold for £29,510 +fees. Currently on a 2021 MERCEDES-BENZ G.
DEV 11L Sold for £29,200 +fees. Currently unassigned.
812 C Sold for £29,010 +fees. Currently unassigned.
From what we can see here, most number plates remain unassigned to any vehicle. The most popular vehicle on which to assign a high-value number plate is a Land Rover.
But my personal favourite has to be 296 GTS with the number plate perfectly matching the Ferrari 296 it is bestowed upon. Good job!