You can’t get more exclusivity than having a sports car in your garage. They’re loud, flashy, and expensive. They’re produced in limited numbers too, so there aren’t many of them on Indian roads. But for some, a sports car alone doesn’t cut the mustard. Having a custom number plate then, is the ultimate in standing out.
Thiruvananthapuram based businessman, K S Balagopal, paid a whopping Rs 31 lakh for an exclusive number plate for his already quite expensive Porsche 718 Boxster convertible sports car. His new number plate reads ‘KL-01-CK-01’ which he bought at auction by the RTO. The number cost him Rs 30 lakh and an additional Rs 1 lakh that he paid for reserving the number.
According to a report in TOI, Balagopal was locked in a bidding battle with NRI Shine Yousef. The latter had bid Rs 25,00,500 but quit after Balagopal hiked his to Rs 30 lakh in the next call. And as it turns out his bid was the most money anyone has ever paid at the Thiruvananthapuram RTO for a registration plate.
In 2017 he paid Rs 19 lakh for the number ‘KL-01-CB-01’ for his Toyota Land Cruiser luxury SUV.
But it was the RTO that laughed its way to the bank. The RTO made Rs 37,31,000 after auctioning of 31 fancy registration numbers that day.
