Your oil dollars at work - $9.8 million license plate auction in the UAE
While fuel prices continue to ratchet up and put a squeeze on all aspects of the world economy, times are flush within the borders of major oil producing nations. So flush, in fact, that several Emiratis found a total of 9.8 million dollars to indulge in low-number license plates at a recent auction. The fascination with distinctive tags is a world-wide phenomenon, but $926,000 for a plate that says "50G" is uniquely asinine. If that's what our last few fillups helped purchase, we're going to bike more.
[Source: Yahoo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
dosahut 10:35AM (5/06/2008)
License plates, plus guns and bombs for terrorists. That's what our big SUVs and gas guzzling sports cars help buy.
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Mobius_1 12:36PM (5/06/2008)
"Guns and bombs for terrorists"
Karma
CarlosMC 2:48PM (5/06/2008)
If they wanted to be terrorists, they'd just need to shut their oil pumps, you know...
TwinTurbo3000GT 3:20PM (5/06/2008)
let them waste their money if they want to waste their money. who the f*ck cares? you people are probably the same rejects that obcess over celebrities and spend your time complaining about all manner of different things on the internet. Live your own damn life and stay the hell out of everyone else's. If i buy something from you, its none of my business what you do with the money, you can turn around and burn it for all i care. And when i buy gas, i dont care what the money goes for, just as long as theres no water in it. If terrorists want guns they are going to get guns, whether we buy gas or not. That's why we spend money on r&d to make damned sure our soldiers have better guns than they do.
chad.dawkins 4:36PM (5/06/2008)
That is so stupid. The LAST thing these guys want is to support terrorism. They make money hand over fist from Americans so why would they want to do anything to destory this country? So to assume every Arab(or even most) is a terrorist is both illogical and racist.
dosahut 5:24PM (5/06/2008)
Yup, no connection whatsoever....
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/031215/15terror.htm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2801017.ece
Granted, these articles are mainly about Saudi Arabia, but I think the general connection between huge oil profits for Arab countries (and Iran) and their ability to help fund the spread of a radical/militant form of Islam is pretty clear. So gas guzzle away. It's our soldiers that are paying the true price.
hydrogenvodka 1:50AM (5/07/2008)
Not quite, with terrorism, oil prices rise, and more license-plates for these facial haired folks.
CarlosMC 8:46PM (5/07/2008)
Didt it ever occured to anyone that there could've been a better reason for the auction than just plain vanity?
From the previous one, which raised 14 mi., just for license "1":
"Proceeds from the auction go toward building a specialized emergency hospital in the U.A.E."
Yeap:
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&refer=home&sid=aJ8EZTdrItjs)
rouse42 10:38AM (5/06/2008)
heres the idot that would by that gt500kr
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matt 10:40AM (5/06/2008)
you're an idiot. if you have to ask why, you're even more of an idiot.
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thom 10:43AM (5/06/2008)
What about all the wealthy Canadians? More of our oil comes from there (than the UAE), so why not make comments and news reports on them? Why do I give a crap how they spend their money?
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tankd0g 10:47AM (5/06/2008)
There are no Canadians buying $9.8 million licenese plates, I guarantee you. Plus the royalties don't go to "royalty", they go to the government, so there's no Alberta Shiek with $150 billion in the bank.
DA_U 10:52AM (5/06/2008)
most of it goes back to the us oil companies.
George 11:16AM (5/06/2008)
It says a TOTAL of $9.8 million. Not $9.8 million for one plate.
What about the guy who paid $675K for a Delaware plate? Or the low numbered liscence plates being auctioned in Cape Cod this summer?
CarbonBlack 10:43AM (5/06/2008)
Simply ridiculous, that makes me want to get a tesla
If you have 45 minutes, I HIGHLY recommend the video
It is on the "richest people of the middle east", and it mainly focuses on their car collections.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6312295472862851569
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CarbonBlack 10:53AM (5/06/2008)
In regards to the movie link,
It discusses the formation of an Arab version formula1 (A1)
A man that has different colored cars for each day
a man that has a $ 10,000,000 car collection
and license plate buying
Mobius_1 12:41PM (5/06/2008)
And don't forget the Sultan of Brunei. Massive car collection, many of them one-off or bespoke. Amazing
rouse42 10:46AM (5/06/2008)
$14.2 million for "1"
now i get it. these plates indicate there IQ
i can see big bucks for certain plates like "1" but crazy cash for some odd number.
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why not the LS2LS7? 10:58AM (5/06/2008)
1 is an odd number. [rimshot]
George 11:24AM (5/06/2008)
Actually these plates indicate royal status as low numbered plates are reserved for members of the royal family. When other cars see these plates on the road they are required to move out of the way. I can see someone paying some cash for plates like these.
Now paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a novelty plate like "F1" that don't confer any special benefits makes no sense at all.