For some people, number plates are simply a piece of plastic or metal printed with digits. But a growing number of people are becoming fans of these pieces of plastic or metal, knowing they have opportunities to display customised combinations on their number plates, rather than the area and vehicle identifying combinations given to them at purchase. These combinations which display digits that get the attention of many potential investors tend to be good enough to hit large sums at auctions, which fully take advantage of getting the most from the numbers.
Abu Dhabi is no exception for custom number plates, in fact, they are well known for silly amounts of money being paid for combinations of number plates. Abu Dhabi is well known for its high end vehicles such as Ferrari's and Lamborghini's being on the road more often than a Toyota Corolla is to be seen. Owners in oil-rich cities such as the Persian Gulf drive high end cars and are always on top of getting the latest super car that comes by. With few pedestrian areas or public transport, number plates are matter of pride and indulgence, and is a huge part of their car culture.
The rich Abu Dhabi has recently become the centre of attention in the record breaking books such as the Guinness Book of World Records, simply because the price paid for plate has broke all records in the world. Combinations like Number '7' on a number plate sold for approx £9 million, Number '5' sold for £3.5 million and the most expensive of all till today is Number '1' which sold for a massive £7 million.
Number plates that go for insane prices like these also have an added investment to them, as the price of their super cars go down, their number plates will continuously go up in price over time, so there is no downside of having vanity number plates with fewer digits, apart from the price of course.