RTA’s latest number plate sale hit nearly Dh98m, with BB 88 alone fetching Dh14m, here’s what went down

Only in Dubai can a hotel ballroom feel like Monaco’s paddock for a few hours. At the Grand Hyatt on Saturday night, bidders with paddles and very particular tastes turned a routine RTA open auction into a spectacle, pushing total sales to Dhs97.95 million and proving that the city’s appetite for distinctive plates is still full throttle.

The star of the show was a minimalist fantasy: BB 88, two letters, two digits, and a final hammer price of Dhs14 million. The room barely exhaled before the next fireworks, Y 31 climbing to Dhs6.27 million, M 78 and BB 777 each landing at Dhs6 million. A reminder that symmetry, low digits, and repeating sequences are the haute couture of the plate world. If you know, you know.

This was the 119th open auction, and the catalogue read like a collector’s dream. 90 plates spanning codes from AA to Z, two to five digits, and plenty of combinations with story value. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority keeps the rules simple enough to maintain the theatre. To bid, you need a Dubai traffic file, a Dhs25,000 security cheque to the RTA, and a Dhs120 entry fee, with payments handled online for those who prefer to plot their strategy from a screen before stepping into the fray. The mix keeps the playing field transparent and the tempo brisk.

Why do people chase them, you may ask? Beyond the bragging rights, distinctive numbers are a language here, a status shorthand to some, an investment class to others. A plate like BB 88 reads instantly at a red light or a valet stand, and in a city fluent in design and detail, that matters. The resale market is active, the provenance is official, and the winners leave with a piece of Dubai iconography that happens to bolt onto a bumper.

When the final lot closed, the total told its own story: another near-Dhs98 million night for plates that combine typography, numerology and a certain Dubai audacity. If you’re plotting a bid next time, have your lucky number ready, your best poker face, and perhaps a friend to stop you when your hand keeps drifting upward.

Image: Archive