Part 1 – 20 through 11

At iCarhireinsurance we’re famous for our low cost car hire insurance premiums and our customers are perhaps more used to us highlighting ways to drive down the costs of motoring, but what if money were no object and you wanted to give your own car a real sense of majesty?

We are forever looking for new ways to personalise our possessions to show our piers and the larger community what kind of person we are at a glance(or at least what we want to be!). Personalised number plates have been on the up-and-up since the early 90s and have become very popular with individuals from all walks of life.

With over 35 million licensed vehicles on the road in the UK alone it is easy to see how the demand for particular letter and number combinations heavily outweigh their availability. With this in mind it is easy to see how the most popular, rare and unusual number places can attract a very high premium!

We’ve compiled a list of the top twenty most expensive number plates ever to be sold in Britain and found that the money some people are prepared to pay for that extra bit of exclusivity can sometimes be truly eye-watering. So if you had a spare couple of hundred thousand pounds burning a hole in your pocket which one would you pick? (although you may struggle to prize them away from their current owners!).

20 – “3 S” – £94,000.

This plate was sold to a gentleman in Northamptonshire back in January 2009 as he believed it would be a good investment for the future. And seeing as he paid £94,000 for it I certainly hope his gamble pays off.

19 – “MN 1” - £100,000.

This plate carries with it a great deal of history as it was the 1st ever number plate issued in the Isle of Man and dates back to 1906. This was however recently sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for £100,000.

18 – “MR51 NGH” - £101,050

It may not surprise you to learn that this number plate was snatched up by a Mr Singh! The treasury were slightly surprised that this plate didn’t go for more given the significance of the name Singh in the Asian community, however £101,050 is certainly a little more than loose change! We will come across one of MR51 NGH’s elder counterparts later in the countdown.

17 – “1 HRH” - £113,815

Perhaps not owned by who you’d expect! This was bought at auction by a Berkshire-based businessman who, as a royalist, was hell bent on ensuring this plate remained in Britain. A lovely sentiment – and surely £113,815 was enough to secure him an invite to at least one Palace Garden Party.

16 – “6 B” - £130,000

Its popularity wasn’t immediately obvious to me until I was told it resembles ‘GB’, then its £130,000 price tag began to make sense. Bought in September 2008 at auction, this is yet another example of how keen many of us Brits are to keep sought after British memorabilia in British hands.

15 – “2 O” - £142,249

This was the second in the single digit O-series released by the DVLA and was sold in March 2009. The others in the series are in line to be sold in future auctions…so start saving!

14 – “1 F” - £144,500

Interestingly this plate was once owned by Essex County Council until it was sold in an auction in 2005. It was originally anticipated to be sold for somewhere in the region of £40,000, so it’s safe to say the person in charge of valuation was either heavily managing expectation or didn’t appreciate the popularity of the English language’s 44th most commonly used word.

13 – “CEO 1” - £154,100

For those C-Level businessmen with an ego, this is surely the ultimate status symbol! The sale of this plate set the record for the most spent on a number plate via eBay.

12 – “1 A” - £160,000

Both this plate and its brother “A 1” are owned by the highly wealthy (and controversial) Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei. He is rumored to have bought the plates for two identical high performance Bentleys which were driven to pick both him and his brother, the Sultan of Brunei, up from their private jet...must be nice!

11 – “I OO” - £197,000

The number 100 holds great reverence and prestige to many, so its £197,000 price tag comes as no great surprise (although maybe £100,000 would have perhaps been more fitting).

Keep your eyes peeled for the Top 10 most expensive number plates bought in the UK!.....