Car's number plate is worth the car's price

In India for Rs.480,000 ( US$ 11,500) you can easily buy a good midsize brand new car. But what would you call to a person who recently shelled out that much amount just to get a number plate of his choice.

Yes, in Chandigarh in Northern India, Mr. Santokh Singh, a NRI from Britain paid whopping Rs.480,000 ( US$ 11,500) for a VIP number plate - CH 04 0001 for his C-class Mercedes. He won this in a bid among nine other bidders.

The reserve price for the number was Rs.25,000 ( US$ 600) only. In Chandigarh open auctioning of these registration numbers started in the last five or six years.

The highest bid made for any number was Rs.505,000 ( US$ 12,000) two years ago for the CH 03-U-0001 series.

Chandigarh in India has the distinction of having one of the highest densities of motor vehicles in the country. For a population of just over one million, there are over 550,000 registered vehicles.

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