£1.3m worth of licence plates sold, Govt confirms

The Gibraltar Government sold £1.3m worth of personalised vehicle registration plates within the first week of sale.

Some 610 licence plates were sold by Friday afternoon which in total raised £1,318,750 for the public purse.

The licence plates cost upwards of £1,250 and the revenue generated so far has matched the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Department’s annual revenue.

“Notably, the amount collected in just one week from the sales of number plates matches the DVLD revenue of approximately £1.4 million for an entire financial year,” the Government told the Chronicle.

The registration plates were placed for sale online on Friday, November 29, with locals quickly bagging their top choices which often commemorate names and special dates.

Some of the most expensive premium plates had a £500,000 price tag on the website, and there will be other plates up for auction soon such as ‘A’ which has a reserve price of £50,000.

“The Government set the initial price of £500,000 for three premium license plates to block these from the site,” the Government said.

“Nevertheless, considering their rarity, exclusivity, and anticipated demand a quick online search confirms that similar plates such as ‘0’, ‘F1’, and ‘P1’ are highly prestigious and sought after.”

The highest price paid for a licence plate currently stands at £30,000.

The Government confirmed all the 20 available individual character plates, except 'A' which will be available for auction, were sold at £10,000 within the first 24 hours.

Premium plates which were still actively for sale online on Friday included ‘VR00M’, ‘C00L’, ‘M4GIC’, ‘FL45H’, ‘L3G4L’, ‘J0K3R’, ‘R4C3R’ and ‘EL1T3’ for £5,000 each.

There are currently 11 licence plates online which will be up for auction.

The Government is planning to introduce the auction system in the new year.

Plates for auction include ‘007’ with a reserve price of £25,000, ‘ONE’ with £15,000 reserve, ‘V1P’ priced at £10,000 and ‘T4X1’ priced at £5,000.

In the meantime, the registration plate ‘G1B’ will be auctioned and the proceeds with be donated to the GBC Open Day.

GBC CEO James Neish announced the auction which will begin with a reserve price of £25,000.

Live on the Gibraltar Today programme on Thursday afternoon, Mr Neish said the auction will open daily between 1pm and 2pm.

This means any updates can be provided during the lunchtime programme.

The auction will continue until the GBC Open Day evening on Thursday, December 12.

Mr Neish said there have been a few people enquiring.

The auction line is telephone number 200 61111 and all proceeds will be donated to the GBC Open Day.

Once licence plates are purchased, the certificate of ownership will be collected from the Customer Care Hub, 323 Main Street and must be taken to the DVLD when registering the personalised plate to a vehicle as proof of ownership.

If a Premium, Auction or G + 1-character personalised plate is resold by the owner, the seller is required to pay the licensing authority 10% of any profit from the sale to transfer the ownership.

The plates are currently available from: www.personalisedplates.gov.gi