Chandigarh

In Chandigarh, fancy number plates have become status symbols, sometimes costing far more than the scooters or cars they’re attached to.

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What if your scooter cost just ₹50,000, but the number plate flaunted a ₹15 lakh price tag? Sounds absurd? Not in Chandigarh, where registration numbers are more than just digits — they’re status symbols.

In a city where vehicle plates are treated like luxury brands, residents are spending far more on single-digit registration numbers than on the vehicles themselves. From modest two-wheelers under ₹60,000 to sedans priced below ₹14 lakh, buyers are shelling out anywhere between ₹1.7 lakh and a staggering ₹24.4 lakh—all for the prestige of owning a coveted single-digit plate. In many cases, the plate costs two to twenty times more than the vehicle it’s attached to.

Records from the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) of the Transport Department, Chandigarh Administration, reveal a fascinating pattern. Between January 2020 and July 2025, the RLA auctioned 12 single-digit fancy registration numbers across various vehicle series, where the final bid amounts far exceeded the cost of the vehicles they were assigned to.Surprisingly, nine of these vehicles were two-wheelers. Their owners paid hefty sums, ranging from twice to more than twenty times the vehicle’s price, for these fancy registration numbers. In some instances, buyers acquired these numbers for two-wheelers with the intention of transferring them later to four-wheelers they planned to purchase, ensuring they didn’t miss out on their preferred number.”I wanted a specific number for my future four-wheeler, so I first registered it with a two-wheeler and later transferred it,” one buyer told TOI.

In other cases, buyers registered the number with a four-wheeler that was yet to be delivered, simply to secure the number in advance. Of the 12 numbers sold, five were purchased by companies or firms, while the remaining were bought by individuals. All were single-digit numbers, underscoring the premium placed on exclusivity.

In April 2022, a buyer spent ₹15.44 lakh on a single-digit number for a two-wheeler that cost just ₹55,585. Another case from June 2024 showed a ₹4.95 lakh bid for a number assigned to a ₹59,336 two-wheeler. Similarly, in August 2023, a ₹64,024 two-wheeler was paired with a ₹5.75 lakh registration number.In total, nine two-wheelers priced between ₹55,585 and ₹1,27,608 were assigned single-digit numbers that fetched between ₹1.70 lakh and ₹15.44 lakh in auctions.The trend wasn’t limited to two-wheelers. Three four-wheeler owners also paid more for registration numbers than for their vehicles. These vehicles were priced between ₹9,56,309 and ₹13,21,621, while the registration numbers were auctioned for amounts ranging from ₹12,21,000 to ₹24,40,000.

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