HEY YU, DREAMER: Vanity car plates prove an endearing, enduring trend

HONG KONG - In Hong Kong, you can get a personalised car licence plate for as little as HK$5,000 (S$860).

- Magdalene Fung

It is an affordable luxury and a way of self-expression that can draw nods of appreciation or chuckles for many of the city's motorists.

Since the authorities made this possible nearly 20 years ago, the Asian financial hub has seen a proliferation of vanity plates on its roads.

And along with it, communities have sprung up online devoted to sightings of this phenomenon.

You can tell a thing or two about a person's wealth, status, sense of humour, beliefs and even superstitions through their special plates.

At the Transport Department's latest auction on April 7, 240 personalised car licence plates went to bid, raking in proceeds of more than HK$3 million for the city's coffers.

The plates ranged from assertions of ownership - such as JOHN LAM, CHUNGYAN, PILOT193 and 29 OCT - to more playful combinations like HEY YU, EMPTI, 7ELEVEN and BORN2RUN.

Two-thirds of the plates at the most recent auction were sold at their minimum bid price of HK$5,000. The highest bid, at HK$125,000, came from the buyer of 1 MY.

The auctions are held roughly a dozen times a year. Potential buyers can come up with their own customised plate, pay HK$5,000 for it to be vetted - a sum that is refunded if not approved and, if approved, wait for it to come up on auction day.

At the auction, they will have to contend with other interested buyers, as anyone can bid for a plate. If no one else puts in a bid, the original applicants get to have theirs at no extra cost.

They get their HK$5,000 refunded if they lose their bid.

The auctions were started in 2006 to give motorists more choice, according to the Transport Department. A vanity plate can comprise up to eight letters or numbers, except the letters I, O and Q.

A highlight is the annual Chinese New Year auction, where some of the most sought-after plates with auspicious or meaningful combinations - like 8888 or UP 1 - are often bought at sky-high prices.