The most expensive number plate you can currently get in South Africa goes for a heady R113,619, not including license and registration fees.
The identifier in question contains a single alphanumeric character for a car residing in the Western Cape province.
According to personalised number plate manufacturer Plates SA, it will look something like: “1 – WP” or “A – WP”.
Pricey South African plates
You are allowed to personalise vehicle number plates in South Africa with any combination of numeric or alpha characters of your choice, subject to the approval of the Department of Transport and provided that the digits are available and not rude, obscene, or offensive.
The chosen word, number, or combination thereof may not exceed seven characters, excluding provincial suffixes like GP and WP, and must comply with the requirements of a normal number plate.
It must also be SABS-approved, meaning it must display the logo or hologram, coat of arms, or background as sanctioned by the province in which the vehicle is registered.
These “vanity plates” as they are commonly referred to are linked to your vehicle, but they are also transferrable from person to person and from car to car, which could make them investments of sorts.
Back in 2016 a collection of single-character Gauteng plates ranging from “1 – GP” to “8 – GP” sold for a whopping R1.89 million at auction, reported Wheels24 at the time.
We don’t know what the original owner paid back then, but at today’s rates, they would have shelled out R52,800 for the set, reflecting a return on investment of a staggering 3,480%.
Knowing this, it seems those chuckle-inducing plates we see out on the roads every so often may just be worth far more than their comedic value.
You can get a vanity plate in any province in South Africa, but the costs vary from location to location and supplier to supplier.
At Plates SA, the prices of personalised number plates in the Western Cape province are:
| Number plate sequence | Examples | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 4-7 alpha and/or numeric characters | HELLO 1 – WP | R3,307 |
| 3 alpha and/or numeric characters | XYZ – WP | R6,419 |
| 2 alpha and/or numeric characters | Z9 – WP | R14,469 |
| 1 alpha and/or numeric characters | A – WP | R113,619 |
In Gauteng, the prices of personalised number plates are:
| Number plate sequence | Examples | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 3 alpha and 3 numeric characters | 007 XYZ – GP | R2,100 |
| JOE 777 – GP | R2,100 | |
| 4 – 7 alpha and/or numeric characters | 4U2C – GP | R4,100 |
| MANDELA – GP | R4,100 | |
| 1 – 3 alpha and/or numeric characters | IMB – GP | R6,600 |
| M5 – GP | R6,600 | |
| 1 – GP | R6,600 |
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