Many of our classic car enthusiast customers will have invested in a personalised number plate for their delightful vehicles and some will no doubt have paid several thousand pounds for them. However, how many of you have invested over half a million pounds in such a plate? Very few, we suspect.

Well, at an auction of number plates that took place in Wales on behalf of the DVLA a few days ago, one was sold for a staggering £518,480 by the time you add on the buyer’s premium and VAT. The purchaser was John Collins who is a dealer in classic cars. It is believed to be a record for someone to have bought a plate at auction in the UK.

The plate has the registration number “25 O”.

So, why such a high price? To a member of the public that has no interest in classic cars they will probably just think it belongs to someone that has either their Christian or surname beginning with the letter “O”.

However, those proud owners of classic cars will no doubt have quickly realised that this plate would fit beautifully on the front and back of a Ferrari 250 GTO. More than once this classic car has broken records at auction, going for many millions of pounds. Therefore, it would seem appropriate that such a plate could adorn a vehicle like that. In fact, it is going to be placed on a 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB.

Apparently, Mr Collins also bought the registration plate “250 L” for £130,000. This would look good on a Ferrari 250 Lusso.

Over the years, certain makes of classic cars have proved to be a fantastic investment with values increasing substantially. Of course, that does not mean to say that this is going to happen in the future – as with many investments, the value can go down as well as up. The same could be said of personalised number plates.

Do let us know if you have any similar stories as we are sure our readers will find them interesting.