It is fair to say that car owners in Malaysia are suckers when it comes to number plates with repeated letters. In case you missed it, the Road Transport Department (JPJ) had recently opened the bidding for the PPP number plate series and the total amount collected in the span of five days was a whopping RM7,257,785, which was RM3.7 million higher than what they received for the SYG series.
According to JPJ deputy director general (strategy and operations) Zamakshari Hanipah, the bidding was opened from November 5 through the JPJ eBid system. The highest bid in the series went to PPP 1 for RM260,000. It was reported that the single-digit registration number was obtained by a businessman, who outbid seven other individuals.
The second most expensive number plate in the series was PPP 6 which was sold for RM160,000, while PPP 9 went for RM140,000 as the third most expensive number in the series. Other noteworthy number plates were PPP 7, which went for RM120,000, PPP 888 for RM110,000 and PPP 999 for RM106,000.
In terms of popularity, PPP 8999 saw the highest number of bidders with 33, while PPP 999 was the second most popular with 28 bidders.
In total, there were 4,917 bidders for the PPP series, which means there are 5,082 numbers still up for bidding. The remaining unregistered numbers will be open to the public at a minimum price of RM20,000 for golden numbers, RM3,000 for attractive two-digit numbers, RM2,500 for attractive three-digit numbers, RM2,000 for attractive four-digit numbers, RM500 for popular numbers and RM300 for running numbers.
Those interested are advised to contact the state or branch JPJ office. The public is required to obtain a mySIKAP ID to get the list of available numbers that have not yet been registered, which can be bought online via the JPJ eBid system.
The online bidding system, which was first introduced last year, offers transparency throughout the entire process. Other advantages include real-time and no element of human intervention in the bidding.
