Special Sheikh Zayed number plate auctioned off for Dh140,000

Dubai - The number plate carried the late founding father's birth year.

Nearly Dh22 million-worth of vehicle plates, including six Sheikh Zayed-themed plates, were auctioned in Dubai by the Road and Transports Authority on Saturday.
A total of Dh19.84million was raised by auctioning 80 plates and Dh1.72million was raised through the Sheikh Zayed-themed plates, which will be given to charity.
The auction included special car plate numbers, which represented important dates in the UAE history, including the founding father of the UAE, the late Sheikh Zayed's birth year - Z 1918 - which was auctioned off for Dh140,000.
Other important numbers being auctioned were 1971 (the year of establishing the foundation) - sold for Dh60,000.
Jamal Al Sada, director of drivers licensing at the Road and Transports Authority (RTA), told Khaleej Times: "The event today successfully achieved the goals we had and the numbers in this auction met the target that we had put forward."
The audience numbers were also good and there is a lot of interest from people who want special numbers. The plate number has its own number and people want a special number. They're always looking forward to buying these type of numbers. For charity, we had a placed a six figure with the concerned department and we reached the target."
The licence plate that was sold at the highest price was AA88 at a figure of Dh1.8m. Other costly plates included Z68, which was auctioned for Dh1.4m, as well as T1000 - sold for Dh810k.
Sultan Al Marzooki, a spokesperson at the RTA Licensing Agency, has said previously: "This auction differs from previous auctions in the exclusivity of numbers offered. The bidder who obtains one or more of these numbers will enjoy the privilege of having these numbers removed from offering in RTA auctions till the end of next year (2018).
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Dubai