License plate auction to top 10 million baht

PHUKET: A total of 301 “lucky” numbers will be up for bid at Phuket’s third two-day auction of auto license plates, starting at 8:30 am on March 17 and 18 at the Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel.

Suraphon Tanrungruangthawee, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Transport Office (PPLTO), told the Gazette that there will be a variety of categories of numbers up for auction, all starting with the letters ¡ (gor-gai) and µ (tor-tao) followed by digits, with those considered luckiest according to Chinese numerology expected to attract the highest bids.

The background image on the license plates will be of Laem Promthep, the same as at the previous two auctions.

Some of the categories are: single digits from 1 to 9; pairs (11, 22, etc); three-of-a-kind (111, 222, etc); four-of-a-kind (1111, 2222, etc); thousands (1000, 2000, etc); runs of three (such as 123), double pairs (1122, 5588, etc); palindromic numbers (1221, 3443, etc); and repeating pairs (1212, 5353, etc).

The starting bids for a solitary number or a series of four repeating numbers will be 50,000 baht, and will increase in 5,000 baht increments. Shorter combinations of numbers will start at 500 baht.

The auction will be open to Thais and foreigners, including those who want to replace the existing number on their car – and even people who do not have a car at all. Bidders must bring along their ID card, passport or letter of proxy in the case of a representative bidder.

Income from the auction will again be donated to the Road Safety Fund to help victims of road accidents and to support traffic safety education in schools.

“The second auction, held in 2006, was a great success. There were a lot of interested people and the auction brought in 13.7 million baht. The highest bids were for the numbers 9999 (720,000 baht) and 8888 (500,000 baht). The first auction in 2003 brought in 8 million baht. This year we hope for at least 10 million baht,” K. Suraphon added.

For more information, call the PPTO at 076-214929.