In Hong Kong, personal/vanity plates are called “Personalized Vehicle
Registration Marks (PVRM)”. Following are the main steps by which you obtain one:
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Apply for your desired PVRM at one of three application periods each year (January, May and September). You will need to follow rules, including no use of the letters I, O or Q. Your plate should have 8 letters, numerals or spaces. Each applicant can only submit one application.
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Applications selected by lot. I.e., if the quota is exceeded, then applications will be randomly chosen.
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If application is successful, the applicant must then pay a deposit of HKD 5,000 (USD 650).
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After vetting, each applicant plate is auctioned. The reserve price is obviously HKD 5,000 (and thus the cheapest plate possible). If someone else takes a liking to your plate (which is listed on a government website prior to auction), then they can come and bid. The only consolation at this point is that if you lose the bidding war, then you get your HKD 5,000 back.
Personal plates are treated as investments in Hong Kong, and a number of people spend millions collecting them.
The plate “18” sold for HKD 16.5 million (USD 2.128 million). I think this is still the highest price paid for a plate so far.
The vetting procedures state that the following are not allowable:
If the plate is “likely to be offensive to a reasonable person, or has a connotation offensive to good taste or decency”, has triad (gang) connotations, is likely to indicate the vehicle belongs to a government department, etc., or is confusing for matters of law enforcement.
Here’s a picture I took of a plate that caught my eye in Hong Kong. I never quite worked out whether the message was for a person or the car itself…
