Shelling Out for Vanity Plates

The Transport Department holds auctions for vanity plates

How much is the letter "D" worth?

In Hong Kong it's HK$20.2 million (US$2.6 million) at a recent auction held by the Transport Department.

Apparently plates with a single letter or digit are highly sought after, and the final price proves it.

Single-digit or letter plates are highly sought after

Before the auction there was speculation the plate "D" would fetch HK$10 million, as it stood for "dragon" and "dollar".

On the auction date, the department set the reserve price at HK$5,000, but the first bidder's opening salvo was already HK$5 million.

That quickly escalated in increments of HK$50,000 when two parties duelled for the plate. In 74 rounds the winner finally emerged at HK$20.2 million in about half an hour.

Ringo Lee Yiu-pui, honorary life president of the recently renamed Hong Kong, China Automobile Association, said the single-digit number plates were particularly sought-after because of their rarity.

"There are only 23 English alphabet letters that can be used and Arabic numerals one to nine," he explained. "There cannot be repetitions. But there are a lot more combinations in two-digit or even three-digit number plates."

Some plates are fun to spot in Hong Kong

But the price for the "D" plate isn't the highest one -- that honour goes to "W" for HK$26 million in 2021, while "V" sold for HK$13 million in 2017. "R" was not red hot -- it only went for HK$5.3 million.

So if you see a car with the plate "D", you'll either think the person is "distinguished" or a "dork", depending on your view...