Heritage Number Plates in Australia and the Most Expensive Number Plates Ever Sold

Heritage number plates in Australia are the strangest status symbol on the road: a small black rectangle with a few white digits on it, and no logo, no badge and no horsepower. Yet they can go for more than the average house in Australia.

What a heritage plate actually is

Think of them as the old guard of the number plate world. In Victoria, heritage plates are handmade replicas of the state's first plates, which were issued in the 1930s. They are embossed on heavy steel with black and white enamel, and each one comes in a wooden box with a certificate. Because they are crafted by hand, no two are exactly alike.

In New South Wales, the collectable plates are the old numeral-only registrations, and Transport for NSW hands them to Lawsons to sell at public auction. South Australia runs its own numeric plate auctions too, and those plates can be bought by anyone but only used on a vehicle registered in that state. The rule of thumb everywhere is the same: fewer digits means rarer, and rarer means pricier.

There is no sticker price. A heritage plate is worth whatever two determined bidders decide on the night.

The Roxy Jacenko chapter

Roxy Jacenko, the Sydney PR identity, is one of the better-known names to have dabbled in the plate game. By reports, she bought two NSW heritage plates, 1903 and 1908, around 20 years ago for roughly $40,000 each, treating them as a long-term investment rather than a fashion accessory. Both have since sold. The 1903 plate went for $144,000, and the 1908 plate, which went to online auction through Collecting Cars, went for $165,000, after sitting at $80,500 with the final days still to run. That is $309,000 for two plates that cost about $80,000 between them. It is a nice little reminder that these things trade like collectables.

Why on earth would anyone buy one?

Honestly, a few reasons, and none of them are practical.

Some people want a number that means something: a birthday, an anniversary, a lucky number. Culture plays a part too. In Victoria, the 1.188 heritage plate was released for the Lunar New Year in the Year of the Dragon, because 1 and 8 are considered lucky, and it sold for $289,000 at the VicRoads auction.

Others simply love the history. A 1930s style plate on a classic car looks right in a way a modern one never will. And then there is the plain old bragging right. Even if someone doesnt care about cars people will often notice a 2 or 3 digit plate.

Here is the funny bit. A plate only earns its keep once it is bolted to a registered car, so the most precious rectangle in your life ends up riding on whatever you drive to the shops. That is how a plate worth six figures, or a great deal more, can end up wearing a car worth a fraction of that. The rules on parking a plate without a car vary by state and plate type. In NSW, you can reserve plates for a year at a time, but only if you do it within three months of your registration ending, and keeping plates beyond that point is an offence. Victoria says its custom plates do not need to be assigned to a vehicle straight away, and Queensland allows plates that are not attached to a vehicle to be bought and transferred. Each state has its own paperwork and fees, so read the authority's terms for the specific plate, as its a lot of money if for some reason is reclaimed.

How you get one

The route depends on the state, and almost all of it runs through an auction. In Victoria, three, four and five digit heritage plates are sold only at auction, while six-digit plates are released online in limited runs through Custom Plates. In NSW, the Lawsons auctions are the main door. Online platforms such as Collecting Cars have run heritage plate sales as well, and the plates in those sales came from several states.

Plates stay tied to state rules after you win them. In NSW, for instance, plates remain the property of Transport for NSW, and transfers are handled through Service NSW under the myPlates conditions. Check the authority's terms before you bid, because the buyer pays transfer costs on top.

The most expensive number plates

The Australian record belongs to NSW 1. The plate was first issued in 1910 to the state's Police Commissioner, spent decades with one family and sold at auction on 27th Jan 24 for $12.4 million.

Overseas, the number gets wilder. A Dubai plate, P7, sold for US$15 million at a charity auction on 8th Apr 23, which is approx. $21 million at the current exchange. The money went to a food aid fund. It beat the previous record, an Abu Dhabi plate that sold in 2008.

Are they a good investment?

The prices are seductive, and the trend has certainly been upward for the very rarest plates. The Victorian 1.188 sold for more than 45% above the 2023 average price for a four-digit plate. A few verified sales show how it has gone.

Those are different plates, so it is not a neat line on a graph. A 12 and an 85 are not the same animal, and one-off results say little about the typical plate. Past prices do not predict future ones, and this is a story about the market, not financial advice. Auction fees, transfer costs and the small crowd of buyers all matter, including if that well healed buyer also has an affinity to the number on offer.

Verdict: It is one of those things where, once you have bought pretty much everything else, you start eyeing the weird and wonderful, and number plates happen to be exactly that: small, shiny, a little ridiculous and a bit of a flex.