What happened to the super beautiful license plates that fetched billions of dong at auction in Nghe An?
The auction in 2008 in Nghe An was successful, billions of dong were used for the "For the Poor" Fund, so it received the people's approval and support.
In 2008, Nghe An was the locality that successfully organized two auctions of license plates, raising billions of VND to support the poor. Although the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Security later suggested stopping this activity due to legal procedures.
At that time, the project to auction beautiful license plates was approved by the People's Committee of Nghe An province with two forms: auction and valuation. Auction only applied to beautiful license plates of the "four of a kind" type. Valuation included "progressive" license plates according to the concept of beautiful numbers of many people, with a starting price of 4 - 8 million VND per license plate by randomly pressing numbers.
The project also determined that all auction and valuation money for beautiful license plates will be transferred to the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee to use for the "For the Poor" Fund and the Provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to use for the "Protection of Mothers and Children" Fund.
On that basis, in April and May 2008, two auctions were held, under the direction of the auction council for beautiful license plates, including representatives from the Public Security and Finance sectors.
At the auction on the evening of April 11, 2008, the Auction Council offered 7 beautiful car license plates and 3 motorcycle license plates that were popular with many people.
Specifically, the license plate 37S-9999 was enthusiastically auctioned by organizations and individuals, the final winning amount was up to 700 million VND (14 times higher than the floor price of 50 million VND). The person who won the auction for this license plate was Mr. Nguyen Khac V. (residing in Hung Thinh commune, Hung Nguyen district, now Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city, Nghe An province).
Along with Mr. V., 9 other people also successfully bid for the beautiful license plate numbers that they wanted at quite high prices. Specifically, license plate 37S-8888 won for 430 million VND, 37S-7777 for 310 million VND, 37S-6868 for 290 million VND, 37S-6666 for 260 million VND...
With 19 car license plates and 4 motorcycle license plates auctioned in 2 rounds, Nghe An collected 2 billion 568.3 million VND.
The proceeds from the valuation of 198 car license plates were 1 billion 134 million VND and the valuation of 257 motorbikes was 356 million VND. The total proceeds from the auction and valuation were 4 billion 58.3 million VND.
With the proceeds from the two auctions, the Auction Council has allocated a sum of money to invest in ensuring traffic safety; transferring more than 2.8 billion VND of the auction proceeds to the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, of which 2 billion 640 million 10 thousand VND is for the Provincial "For the Poor" Fund, and 200 million VND is for the "Protection of Mothers and Children" Fund.
In 2008, the Nghe An Province "For the Poor" Fund used this source to support the construction of 189 houses for the poor (each house costing 15 million VND) and the purchase of hundreds of cows to help the poor develop production. The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs used the money from the "Protection of Mothers and Children" Fund to perform "For Children's Smiles" surgery for 100 disabled children.
Talking to reporters, the owner of the auction winning license plate 37S-7777, Mr. S. (a businessman residing in Vinh City) said that at that time the auction was public in the hall, whoever bid with the highest amount would win.
“That day, there were about 100 people participating in the auction, and for the license plate 37S-7777, there were about 10 people competing together, with a bid of 310 million VND, so I won this license plate. The money was then donated to the "For the Poor" Fund, so we were very sympathetic and supportive,” Mr. S. shared.
Regarding the current new license plate auction regulations, Mr. S. commented: “This license plate auction is personally identified (license plate identification), so I agree because I can own that license plate. Previously, even though I got a nice license plate, when buying and selling or transferring ownership, I could not keep it, even though I spent a lot of money to buy that license plate.”
An officer from the Traffic Police Department (Nghe An Provincial Police) added that the beautiful license plates auctioned in 2008 are still being used normally by their owners, attached to luxury cars such as Audi, Toyota Camry, Toyota Prado... Only the car with license plate 37S-6868 has been transferred many times.
From July 1, 2023, Resolution No. 73/202/QH15 on pilot auction of car license plates of the National Assembly officially takes effect; also the date Decree No. 39 of the Government on guiding the implementation of Resolution 73 takes effect. Therefore, people will have the right to choose and compete to own the car license plate as desired.Previously, in 1993, the Ministry of Public Security directed Hai Phong City Police to pilot the granting of the right to choose car license plates and collect fees.By 2008, the police of some localities such as Ba Ria Vung Tau, Nghe An, Binh Duong, Son La... reported to the Ministry of Public Security, proposing that the Government allow the selection of the method of auctioning car license plates. However, after many seminars and consultations with the Prime Minister, ministries and branches, there were still legal problems, and public opinion was divided.
