‘Sitting on a goldmine’? World’s first number plate valuation tool launches in Dubai, trading platform to follow
“Some people have valuable number plates and they don’t even know… they could be sitting on a goldmine,” SellAnyCar’s Saygin Yalcin says.
BuyAnyCar’s launch of the UAE’s first license plate valuation tool has attracted unprecedented interest, processing approximately 50,000 valuations daily since its recent public launch, founder and CEO Saygin Yalcin exclusively told Arabian Business.
“We didn’t expect 50,000 people to do it per day,” German entrepreneur Yalcin said.
“It’s so Dubai. This is really something unique. This is the world’s first online number plate valuation tool, and again Dubai is the first to do it.”
The tool, available exclusively through the BuyAnyCar app and limited to UAE phone numbers, has gone viral on social media platforms, with Yalcin’s latest video about the tool over the weekend approaching one million views on Instagram within days of its release.
The platform aims to address liquidity issues in the number plate market while offering car owners a potential hedge against vehicle depreciation.
“We have identified a problem in the number plates market. While you were sitting on value, it wasn’t liquid,” Yalcin explained.
“If you bought a three-digit number plate 10 years ago for AED 200,000-300,000, you will now likely have a number plate worth at least AED 400,000.”
The company plans to expand the platform’s capabilities within the next six months to include number plate trading services.
“Some people have valuable number plates and they don’t even know, so they should check – they could be sitting on a goldmine,” Yalcin added.
The tool represents an extension of SellAnyCar’s existing business model, which has provided instant car valuations online for the past 11 years. Yalcin noted that while cars typically depreciate in value, number plates have proven to be appreciating assets, similar to real estate investments.
According to Yalcin, the combination of car and plate trading could offer significant advantages to owners. “You may have lost AED 100,000 on your car, but you could gain AED 200,000 on your number plate.”
Dubai and Abu Dhabi number plates drive searches
However, he highlighted that the values provided are estimates rather than definitive valuations.
Analysis of user activity showed Dubai plates dominating searches on the app at 67 per cent of all queries, followed by Abu Dhabi at 14 per cent. The remaining emirates show varying levels of interest, with Sharjah at 5 per cent, Ajman and Fujairah each at 4 per cent, and Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain each representing 3 per cent of searches.
The most searched plates reflect the market’s appetite for prestigious combinations, with Dubai’s A1 plate estimated at over AED 100 million leading the queries. Other highly searched combinations include Dubai’s F1111 (AED 3.9 million), Abu Dhabi’s Code 1, Number 1 (AED 76.5 million), and Dubai’s P7, which sold for AED 55 million at a charity auction in 2023 but carries an estimated market value of AED 45 million.
Source: Tala Michel Issa, Arabian Business
About the Author
SayginYalcin Saygin is the Founder & CEO of the Middle East's (ME) first & largest car buying service, SellAnyCar.com and Founder of the first & largest online private shopping club in the ME, Sukar.com, which has been acquired by Souq.com, making him Partner at the Souq.com and Jabbar Internet Group, becoming the largest ecommerce company in the Arab world, with 3000+ employees. In its largest acquisition outside the US to date, Amazon.com has acquired Souq.com Group. He has been selected as a UBS Industry Leader, a network of Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals. He was also Advisory Board Member & Academic Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the Canadian University of Dubai. He was referred to as "the region's online business guru" by the National newspaper in the UAE, while Arabian Business named him as "one of the region's finest young entrepreneurs and a major part of the entrepreneurial scene in recent years". Fortune magazine (mag) named him in the 40 under 40 list, as one of the most influential young people in business, Entrepreneur mag ME awarded SellAnyCar.com, with Saygin at its helm, as the "Fastest Growing Company in the ME", while the National newspaper sees it among a handful of tech companies to "have the potential to break the $1bn barrier". In a cover story, Entrepreneur mag ME titled him as "undoubtedly one of the youngest & most successful internet entrepreneurs in the ME”, awarded SellAnyCar.com as "Technology Innovator of the Year”, while Khaleej Times awarded him as the Technology Leader. Gulf Business selected him as 1 of the Top 10 Entrepreneurs in ME. In a cover story, Arabian Business counts him as 1 of the most successful entrepreneurs to call Dubai home. During the World Government Summit, HH Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed, Minister of Interior of the UAE, presented Saygin as an inspiring story for the country, in the presence of world leaders, incl. HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
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