Expensive cars and special registration numbers

The granting of registration numbers for cars is carried out contingently but expensive cars always have special registration numbers.

The central province of Nghe An recently auctioned 10 special registration numbers for cars and 3 for motorbikes, collecting more than VND2.5 billion (nearly $94,000) for charity.

On streets of big cities like Hanoi and HCM City, one can see luxurious cars with special registration numbers. Is this coincidental?

Reporters conducted a survey along major streets in Hanoi like Ly Thuong Kiet, Hai Ba Trung, Tran Hung Dao, Nguyen Chi Thanh, Lieu Giai, Ly Thai To, Ba Trieu, Pho Hue and big car parks in the city and they saw many luxurious cars with special registration numbers, for example: Mercedes S55 AMG with 29V-7777, Lexus RX 350 with 29Z-3366, BMW 318i with 29T-8888, Infiniti G 35 with 30H-8888.

In HCM City, a white Mercedes C200K worth around hundred thousand USD owned by a businesswoman in District 1 always attracts the eyes of passers-by with its special registration number, 52F-9999. Another Toyota Camry 2007 worth $60,000 owned by a man in District 2 has registration number 52F-5555. A businessman in District 5 owns a Lexus GS 350 with number 52F-6688 and another man in District 5 has a Lexus LS 460L with number 50Z-4567. Other special registration numbers belong to expensive Mercedes cars.

What is a special registration number?

Special registration numbers are easy-to-remember numbers. Moreover, Asian people think that numbers like car numbers are linked closely to their fate and success.

The best numbers have many 6s and 8s (which mean luckiness and prosperity), for example 6666, 8888, 6868 or 8686. Other four-digit registration numbers with only one number (2222, 3333, etc) are also said to be good, except for 1111 and 4444, because 1 means making no headway and 4 means death. Other registration numbers like 0660, 7887, 6886, 1234, 5678, etc. are also special.

There are some numbers which don’t obey the above rules but are said to be special by car owners, such as 1102 (uniqueness), 1668 (more prosperity), 8386 (getting rich), etc.

When do special registration numbers become public assets?
 
How can luxurious cars have special registration numbers when Hanoi and HCM City applies a contingent mechanism in granting registration numbers? It has been confirmed that to own these numbers, car owners had to pay tens or even hundreds of million dong for them.

If someone pays hundreds of thousands of USD to buy a car, he or she is willing to pay several thousands of USD to own a special registration number. That’s why the super car Rolls-Royce Phantom, the most expensive car in Vietnam, has a special number – 77L-7777.

Where does the money for special registration numbers go to?

If the state considers these car numbers as public assets and asks all provinces and cities to auction them like Nghe An province did, a huge amount of money could be raised for charity purposes.

In other places, special registration numbers are auctioned publicly to collect money for the state budget. In early May 2007, a businessman in the United Arab Emirates paid $6.86 million for a car number with only one digit, 5. Another car plate – M1 – went for $657,160 in Yorkshire (UK). In early 2006, Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan paid $192,000 to own a special car number – 123.