Personalised plates

[Batty]

Something just cropped up during a discussion on facebook about personalised plates.  I mentioned that I haappened to have the plate '1' on a bike I purchased 11 years ago.  The plate cost me nothing, and a fellow poster seems to think I am either lying, have a fake plate or got very lucky as it must be worth a lot of money, and there is no way a dealer would let me have it for free.  He showed some prices from a recent tabian-rot auction, one of the examples listed was '1' for 500,000 THB.

 

When I brought the bike I asked for number 1, and they said I would have to wait for that to become available.  They said it could take a few days, or it could take a year, there is just no way of knowing.  I got lucky and recieved it in just 6 weeks.

 

I am not getting my hopes up in the slightest.  There is no way that a plate which cost me zero extra is worth much money.  But I am interested to know if it has any value at all?  The bike is at the end of its life (its just a modern Vespa, albiet a nice one), its 11 years old and I cant be bothered to repair it.  I have a couple of original Italian classic Lambrettas, they take up all my focus, time and money, and I also have a car, so the vespa isnt essential and I was just going to leave it by the side of the house untill I figured something out with it to be honest.  But if it transpires that the plate has a value, I might repair it and get it re-taxed/inspected and sell the plate, if thats something I am allowed to do, by law.  

 

Does anyone know if there is a way to check the value?  

[Gsxrnz]

Check Wiki out for some info. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Thailand

 

I suspect the desirability of your "1" only applies to cars and not scooters. I recall seeing plenty of bikes with single digits around. 

 

I can't see a Hiso Bangkokian willing to forego his Merc with a non personalized plate to pay megabaht for the honor of whizzing down Suk on a Vespa with a "1" plate hanging off the rear mudguard.

[Batty]

48 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Check Wiki out for some info. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Thailand

 

I suspect the desirability of your "1" only applies to cars and not scooters. I recall seeing plenty of bikes with single digits around. 

 

I can't see a Hiso Bangkokian willing to forego his Merc with a non personalized plate to pay megabaht for the honor of whizzing down Suk on a Vespa with a "1" plate hanging off the rear mudguard.

That dosent make any sense though - plates are transferable, if someone wanted that plate, they would not have to buy and use the vespa of course not, blimey wake up mate. The plate is transfered. Who in their right mind would say "oh i fancy that plate #999 all i have to do is buy and ride a 17 year old Honda Click and I can do it" 

 

You have not seen 'plenty' of single digit plated bikes around. You just havent. I have lived here full time for 18 years and have driven/ridden over 300,000 kms all over the country. I do not see 'plenty' of single digit plates knocking around. Rare? No. But plenty? Come on mate...

[Will B Good]

The owner of a UK company I worked for had A1.......worth a bob or two now I imagine.

[Kwasaki]

Advertise the plate or contact an auction company. 

Sell the plate and get a new number at DLT for the scoot it came off of. 

[blackprince]

An interesting question.

The Ministry of Transport here generally sells off special numbers at high prices so I guess you got lucky.

On the other hand, while "1" is the most desirable number in most western countries, in Thailand other numbers are considered more important because of their good luck value ????

[DaLa]

5 minutes ago, blackprince said:

An interesting question.

The Ministry of Transport here generally sells off special numbers at high prices so I guess you got lucky.

On the other hand, while "1" is the most desirable number in most western countries, in Thailand other numbers are considered more important because of their good luck value ????

Very true, and whilst I agree that the specific numbers hold significance, you also have to consider the 'letters'.  My wife has two 'private' plates and they were auctioned by the Ministry of Transport. We were at the auction for a few hours and I noticed that letters and 111 plates were more expensive that letters and 11 plates which would not be the case in the UK. There are plenty of private plates on my moo bahn and I would say it's '9''s that are predominant, even plates such as 2 letters and then 5999.

[transam]

We had no. "1" on a white plate on our Honda PCX, we ordered it, cost 500bht about 10 years back...????

[eisfeld]

If it's a motorcycle plate from BKK with number 1 then it's worth probably around 20k-40k depending on the letters. Some rare ones are worth more. There are plenty of numbers which are actually worth more than "1", something like 9999 for example. Plates outside of BKK might be worth more or less depending on demand.

 

The real money goes only for car plates.

[johng]

2 hours ago, Batty said:

That dosent make any sense though - plates are transferable

I asked at the Pattaya Department of transportation  about transferring plates and was told that  it can be done  car to car and bike to bike  but not bike to car or car to bike,there is also the issue with provinces..don't think they allow  the same letter and number combination in more than 1 province ?

 

cant say I have ever seen a Thai plate with just  one number no letters and no province written on it    except for a  special case when it was a "prototype" car  so not technically registered but had special allowance to be on the road.

[eisfeld]

2 minutes ago, johng said:

I asked at the Pattaya Department of transportation  about transferring plates and was told that  it can be done  car to car and bike to bike  but not bike to car or car to bike,there is also the issue with provinces..don't think they allow  the same letter and number combination in more than 1 province ?

 

cant say I have ever seen a Thai plate with just  one number no letters and no province written on it    except for a  special case when it was a "prototype" car  so not technically registered but had special allowance to be on the road.

Correct, you can only transfer bike to bike (or car to car) as there are different types of plates. And you can only transfer to another vehicle to be registered in the same province as the plate of course does not change and it states the province on it. Some DLTs also require the transfer to be between vehicles owned by the same owner. There are no plates for normal plebs that dont have number+letter+province on it. If you see one then it's usually a fake plate that is not used on public roads. E.g. on a car exhibition.

[eisfeld]

3 hours ago, Batty said:

I might repair it and get it re-taxed/inspected and sell the plate, if thats something I am allowed to do, by law.  

How long has it been untaxed? If more than 3 years then you got unlucky (despite the number :)) because the plate will not be valid anymore.

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, blackprince said:

An interesting question.

The Ministry of Transport here generally sells off special numbers at high prices so I guess you got lucky.

On the other hand, while "1" is the most desirable number in most western countries, in Thailand other numbers are considered more important because of their good luck value ????

Like a few of the Merc's in my Condo Garage.  Plates with numbers of 555, 6969, 911 which is on a Porsche 911, and 777 on an Audi.  I am sure these folks paid some coin or maybe not.

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

Like a few of the Merc's in my Condo Garage.  Plates with numbers of 555, 6969, 911 which is on a Porsche 911, and 777 on an Audi.  I am sure these folks paid some coin or maybe not.

Saw BO ND 007 on a Porch 911 in Germany............swine.

[transam]

Our PCX white plate had two letters at the top, area under that and "1" under that. 

Seems they only have a number for the month, if you want that number you have to wait till the next month for availability.

When we bought the PCX we paid 500bht extra for "1", when the plate and book turned up it wasn't "1", they fluffed around and seems the lady who did our stuff pocketed the 500bht.

Anyhoooo, went to the LTO and told them, they said you can have "1" in two months time, 500bht, go back to Honda and get your money back.

 

After telling Honda what LTO said they gave us our money back. Our "1" plate turned up as promised.

 

Mrs. T's weee run-about car has a coloured plate, not  "1", but cost 40,000bht, and no, I didn't pay for it....????

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

Nothing says 'douchebag' quite like a personalised number plate.

[transam]

Just now, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Nothing says 'douchebag' quite like a personalised number plate.

No, that's "envy" ol' chap.....????

[johng]

3 hours ago, Batty said:

I might repair it and get it re-taxed/inspected and sell the plate, if thats something I am allowed to do, by law.  

I don't think you can just sell the plate...you can sell the bike which has a (legal) plate and the new owner can then "swap" the plate over to another bike legally after the green books are updated at the Department of Land Transportation.

 

5 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

If more than 3 years then you got unlucky

I was watching a utube  video the other day  #JOHNRIDER

he goes to motorcycle  warehouse/scrapyard/restorers  looking at old bikes 

(Kawasaki Victor for me please ) and in a couple of the videos the business owners say that  as long as there is a green book  it doesn't matter how long the tax has expired  the "registration"  can still be exhumed and that there was a fixed length of back taxes to be paid ( a few years)  even if expired for 20 years..whether or not the  registration number plate gets  resurrected at the same time  was not mentioned..

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Our PCX white plate had two letters at the top, area under that and "1" under that. 

Seems they only have a number for the month, if you want that number you have to wait till the next month for availability.

When we bought the PCX we paid 500bht extra for "1", when the plate and book turned up it wasn't "1", they fluffed around and seems the lady who did our stuff pocketed the 500bht.

Anyhoooo, went to the LTO and told them, they said you can have "1" in two months time, 500bht, go back to Honda and get your money back.

 

After telling Honda what LTO said they gave us our money back. Our "1" plate turned up as promised.

 

Mrs. T's weee run-about car has a coloured plate, not  "1", but cost 40,000bht, and no, I didn't pay for it....????

Yes I have noticed many of those colored plates around, and wondered what the deal was.  In the US and in California you can get personalized plates that are on many different backgrounds, it is of course an extra yearly fee at registration time but nothing up front.

[transam]

Just now, johng said:

I don't think you can just sell the plate...you can sell the bike which has a (legal) plate and the new owner can then "swap" the plate over to another bike legally after the green books are updated at the Department of Land Transportation.

 

I was watching a utube  video the other day  #JOHNRIDER

he goes to motorcycle  warehouse/scrapyard/restorers  looking at old bikes 

(Kawasaki Victor for me please ) and in a couple of the videos the business owners say that  as long as there is a green book  it doesn't matter how long the tax has expired  the "registration"  can still be exhumed and that there was a fixed length of back taxes to be paid ( a few years)  even if expired for 20 years..whether or not the  registration number plate gets  resurrected at the same time  was not mentioned..

You can sell the plate, the ride gets a new number..

[eisfeld]

6 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Saw BO ND 007 on a Porch 911 in Germany............swine.

Doubt that because german number plates don't have leading zeros ????

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, eisfeld said:

Doubt that because german number plates don't have leading zeros ????

I wonder that.....and you also see so few specialized number plates.....or I didn't notice them particularly.

 

It was at Dusseldorf airport.....so guessing BO is Bottrop?

[transam]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

Yes I have noticed many of those colored plates around, and wondered what the deal was.  In the US and in California you can get personalized plates that are on many different backgrounds, it is of course an extra yearly fee at registration time but nothing up front.

Every area in LOS has it's own area colour design, such as........

 

[eisfeld]

9 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Yes I have noticed many of those colored plates around, and wondered what the deal was.  In the US and in California you can get personalized plates that are on many different backgrounds, it is of course an extra yearly fee at registration time but nothing up front.

Colorized plates (e.g. the purple-ish or yellow background ones) are limited issue runs that are auctioned off by the DLT. A portion of the funds will be used for road safety measures. Some with not so special numbers have just a fixed markup for the background.

Edited November 10, 2021 by eisfeld

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

7 minutes ago, transam said:

No, that's "envy" ol' chap.....????

Well, if you want say you're a douchebag to other road users, the cheap way is after market alloys.

[eisfeld]

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

I wonder that.....and you also see so few specialized number plates.....or I didn't notice them particularly.

 

It was at Dusseldorf airport.....so guessing BO is Bottrop?

You can get any letter-number combination from the official registry for very little money as long as it is free and not on the banned list (e.g. SS, HJ etc) in Germany. BO would be Bochum. But this is getting off-topic as we should be talking about Thailand.

[transam]

1 minute ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Well, if you want say you're a douchebag to other road users, the cheap way is after market alloys.

Sorry, not sure what you are talking about....????

[Will B Good]

6 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

Doubt that because german number plates don't have leading zeros ????

A James Bond fan from Hamburg would not be allowed the plate HH-JB 007 because leading digits 0 (or even double-0) are not possible; however, he might strive for HH-J 8007 or HH-OO 7, imitating digits by letters or vice versa. (Wiki)

 

I wonder how he wangled it?

 

 

[RafPinto]

22 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Like a few of the Merc's in my Condo Garage.  Plates with numbers of 555, 6969, 911 which is on a Porsche 911, and 777 on an Audi.  I am sure these folks paid some coin or maybe not.

Is the 6969 number plate on his wife's handbag?

[eisfeld]

13 minutes ago, johng said:

I don't think you can just sell the plate...you can sell the bike which has a (legal) plate and the new owner can then "swap" the plate over to another bike legally after the green books are updated at the Department of Land Transportation.

 

I was watching a utube  video the other day  #JOHNRIDER

he goes to motorcycle  warehouse/scrapyard/restorers  looking at old bikes 

(Kawasaki Victor for me please ) and in a couple of the videos the business owners say that  as long as there is a green book  it doesn't matter how long the tax has expired  the "registration"  can still be exhumed and that there was a fixed length of back taxes to be paid ( a few years)  even if expired for 20 years..whether or not the  registration number plate gets  resurrected at the same time  was not mentioned..

This is a misunderstanding I think. After 3 years of not paying taxes the bike get de-registered. You can register the bike again (it's like a new registration) and they will use the old greenbook to help with the process BUT you will not get the old number back. It's like a completely new registration and can be done even without green book. It's just more work.