Phuket to Hold Lucky License Plate Auction This Weekend

Phuket will host another auction of Thailand’s highly sought-after special vehicle registration plates this weekend, giving motorists the opportunity to bid on lucky number combinations while supporting road safety initiatives across the country.

Unlike in many countries, the sale of premium license plates in Thailand is conducted through an official government auction. The proceeds are directed to the Road Safety Fund, which finances traffic safety projects and provides assistance to people injured in road accidents.

The upcoming auction will be organized by the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) on July 11–12. Participants will be able to bid on registration plates featuring special graphic backgrounds depicting Promthep Cape, one of Phuket’s best-known landmarks.

On Saturday, bidding will focus on the new KT (ขท) registration series. Sunday's auction will feature remaining premium plates from several previous series, including KK (ขค), KNG (ขง), KJ (ขจ), KCH (ขฉ) and KT (ขต).

A total of 503 premium license plates will be offered for sale, including 301 plates from the newest series and 202 plates from earlier editions.

The live auction will take place at the Royal Phuket City Hotel in Phuket Town, while online participants will also be able to place bids through the official auction platform.

Opening prices range from 3,000 baht, 10,000 baht, and 50,000 baht, depending on the rarity and desirability of each number combination. In practice, however, even the least prestigious plates rarely sell for under 30,000 baht, while most ordinary lucky-number combinations typically attract bids between 50,000 and 100,000 baht.

The most valuable plates traditionally feature combinations such as 9999 or 8888, which often sell for around 1 million baht. Mixed combinations of eights and nines also command high prices.

Occasionally, collectors seeking a particular number push prices much higher. During Phuket's 2023 auction, the registration plate ขฉ 1 sold for 1.963 million baht, becoming the most expensive lot of the event. Plates ขฉ 9999 and ขฉ 8888 were sold for 1.005 million baht and 980,000 baht, respectively.

The province also achieved record-breaking auction revenue in 2025, raising 39.3 million baht from newly issued plates alone and more than 43.7 million baht after including the resale of older series. By comparison, auctions held between 2022 and 2024 generated around 25 million baht each.

Nationwide, annual premium license plate auctions generate approximately 330 million baht for the Road Safety Fund.

Thailand's most expensive license plate remains the Bangkok registration 9กก 9999, which was purchased by investment company Titan Capital for 45 million baht during a 2022 auction. Company representatives later joked that the winning bid had exceeded their original budget, but said they had no intention of giving up the coveted plate.