Over the weekend, a license plate with the characters “P 7” was sold at an auction in Dubai for 55 million UAE dirhams, or around $15 million. The auction, held by Emirates Auction, set a new record for the world’s most expensive license plate. The proceeds from the sale will be donated to a food aid charity led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the ruler of Dubai. The identity of the buyer has not been disclosed.
According to Guinness World Records, the previous record for the most expensive license plate was set in 2008, when the single-digit plate “1” was sold for 52.2 million dirhams. The buyer was Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri from the UAE, and the sale was also organized by Emirates Auction.
In February of this year, a license plate featuring the letter “R” was sold in Hong Kong for 25.5 million Hong Kong dollars, or around $3.2 million. Other wealthy individuals, such as Dubai-based businessman Balvinder Singh Sahni, have also spent millions on unique license plates as a symbol of their status.