Car prices with beautiful license plates skyrocket due to information about numbering based on identification code

Before the information that license plates will be managed by identification codes, the market for buying and selling cars with beautiful license plates is bustling. There are old car models that are pushed up to double or triple the price because they have beautiful license plates.

Car prices with nice license plates double or triple

According to the draft circular regulating the issuance and revocation of registration and license plates of motor vehicles replacing Circular 58/2020 of the Ministry of Public Security, from July 1, 2023, car license plates will be managed by identification codes. The identification license plate will follow the owner for life and cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Each car owner is allowed to own multiple license plates.

This regulation, when it comes into effect, will not affect normal car users because it only changes the way license plates are managed. However, for those who want to own a nice license plate, it is a different story, because they will not be able to buy a nice license plate like they are now.

Ms. Nguyen Minh Ngoc (Cau Giay District, Hanoi) said that she just bought a 2018 Mazda 3 with license plate 188.88 for 999 million VND. In fact, the market price of this car model is only about 400 - 500 million VND.

“I have long wanted cars with nice license plates, but I was in no hurry. However, when there was information that there would soon be regulations on managing license plates based on identification codes, I decided to buy one right away. After doing some research, I found that cars with nice license plates are increasing in price by the hour, by the day. The car with license plate 188.88 that I just bought, the next day someone offered 70 million VND more to buy it, but I did not sell it,” Ngoc shared.

Ms. Ngoc also said that normally, car buyers care about the quality of the car first, but this time, quality is not the important thing: "In fact, I buy because of the license plate, not the car. What is important is that the legal status is clear and the name can be transferred so that later the identification can be used to install another car."

Similarly, the new owner of a Kia Morning with license plate 30H - 999.99 that caused a stir on social networks also said that when he heard about the new regulations, he quickly paid to buy the car with the most beautiful license plate today for 2 billion VND (the current rolling price of this car model is 450 - 520 million VND): "As soon as someone knew I bought this car, they offered more than 1 billion VND to buy it back, but I have no intention of selling it."

Mr. Pham Dinh Vinh, owner of the Imported Scooters store (918 Lang street, Hanoi) specializing in selling cars and motorbikes with beautiful license plates, said that the price of motorbikes with beautiful license plates is constantly increasing.

Without specifying the car, Mr. Vinh said that in the past, a car with a beautiful license plate was sold for only 300 million VND. However, up to now, a car with the same license plate can be sold for 600 million VND or even higher.

A used car dealer in Long Bien (Hanoi) also said that although the used car market is somewhat quiet, cars with nice, easy-to-remember license plates sell very well: "As far as I know, there are places that sell dozens of these cars every day, from white to yellow license plates."

Car dealers are still "sitting on fire"

According to Mr. Pham Dinh Vinh, since the information about issuing license plates according to identification codes, the market for buying and selling cars with beautiful license plates has been more vibrant than ever.

The number of customers looking to buy this car has doubled or tripled compared to before. Those who really need it will buy a car with a nice license plate first to save and then can change to another car later. Popular, cheap cars with nice license plates are sought after by many people because of their more reasonable prices.

Although the buying and selling activities are bustling, car dealers even have to go everywhere to find cars to buy, but in reality, there are potential risks for themselves.

Because after the official application of the regulation on issuing license plates according to the identification code, if there are still cars with beautiful license plates that have not been sold, it is considered that they bought them at a high price, and they cannot be sold at the price of cars with beautiful license plates anymore. At that time, the beautiful license plates can only be kept for playing.

Mr. Do Trung Hieu, a famous collector of beautiful license plate cars in Hanoi, commented that car dealers with beautiful license plate cars are currently "winning and losing" because it is still unclear when the license plate identification will be applied. Recently, the selling price of cars with beautiful license plate cars has increased sharply because most of the cars are in the hands of dealers and there are not many real players.

“If the regulation is applied, only the players will benefit, while those who sell cars with nice license plates will be sitting on fire because they will no longer be able to sell cars with nice license plates,” said Mr. Hieu.

Mr. Hieu himself has sold almost all of his cars with beautiful license plates to buyers for real use and only kept one or two five-digit license plates for fun.

Having been playing with beautiful license plates for many years, Mr. Hieu carefully studied the content of the draft circular regulating the issuance and revocation of registration and license plates of motor vehicles and concluded that identifying license plates will help with data management, and at the same time, when auctioning car license plates, it will also achieve maximum benefits.

“If the license plate auction is conducted without identification, people in need can still buy and sell cars with nice license plates on the market. In that case, the auction may not have the expected results,” said Mr. Hieu.

According to the draft Circular regulating the issuance and revocation of registration and license plates of motor vehicles of the Ministry of Public Security, which is being consulted (replacing Circular No. 58/2020), license plates will be managed according to the identification code of the owner.

License plates are still issued following the current process, only the management is different. In other words, each car had its own license plate in the past, now each person has their own license plate, the license plate follows the person.

The identification number plate will follow a person for life and cannot be bought, sold, or transferred.

Registration of license plates by personal identification code does not apply to auctioned license plates. Auctioned license plates can only be transferred along with the vehicle. When the vehicle is broken, stolen, expires, or the owner of the vehicle with the auctioned license plate no longer wants to use it, the State will take it back and auction it off to the new owner.