SA Businessman Turns Down R850000 For His Number Plate!
Don't Panic its Only Around 78k in Our Money
A Johannesburg businessman has rejected an R850000 (£78k) offer for his car's registration plate - 1 GP - but says he'll part with it for R1-million (£92k).
"Astute buyers are now investing their cash in low-digit plates," said Barry Berman, whose company, Mekaish Plates, markets and sells personalised registration plates.
Two weeks ago, an IT billionaire paid R165000 for his number plate, 2 GP.
More than 500 people were at a recent auction for second-hand number plates in Sandton, northern Johannesburg.
"Bidding was very brisk," said Berman.
Among the plates on offer was Mandela GP. It fetched R100000.
Berman said one of the most expensive registration plates sold in SA was CA 3, which was bought last year at an auction in Johannesburg by a Capetonian.
Seth Rotherham, 30, paid R340 000 for the number plate. The plate, which had graced an old Toyota Cressida for many years, is now on a Ferrari 355.
At the time, Rotherham reportedly said: "I really wanted it. The mayor of Cape Town drives CA 1. I heard there is another guy who owns CA 2 and now I will have CA 3 ... the best number."
Berman said other personalities who owned personalised registration plates included former Springbok captain Joost van der Westhuizen, who bought 9 GP three years ago.
Berman would not disclose how much Van der Westhuizen paid.
"It is his rugby number so it has special importance and value to him," he said.
In Abu Dhabi, billionaire businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri, paid £7-million (about R74.9-million) for the United Arab Emirates registration number 1 in 2008.
His bill eclipsed the £3.5-million paid by a prominent Gulf businessman, Talal Ali Mohammad Khouri, for the registration number 5 in 2007.
Russian-born billionaire Roman Abramovich, the owner of UK premier league football club Chelsea and not someone usually associated with restraint, forked out a modest £285 000 in 2006 for his number plate, VIP 1
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