The rise of Heritage Plates

Blog - 3 July 2024

Heritage Plate popularity continues to rise 

Customer demand for VicRoads highly sought-after Heritage plates continues to rise with the average auction prices paid doubling over the past three years.
 
Heritage plates are faithful replicas of the first Victorian registration plates issued in the 1930s. Handcrafted on black vitreous enamel, they feature numeric combinations ranging from 1 to 285,000.  
 
Over the past few years Heritage plates have not only become appealing for car enthusiasts and collectors, they’re now highly sought after by a new and younger generation of custom plate fans. 
  
The increasing interest has seen demand rise in recent years. In 2020, three-digit Heritage were available at auction for an average of $135,000. At the end of 2023, the average auction price was $375,000. This trend has also seen prices paid for four and five-digit Heritage plates double during the same period. 

^{Source: VicRoads auction data. Figures represent average values from the auction of VicRoads owned Heritage plates.}

VicRoads releases a limited number of three, four and five-digit Heritage plates yearly, through public auction.

Demand for six-digit Heritage plates is also on the rise. When they were reintroduced for sale in July last year, after being paused for 18 months, the strong demand for plates led to a further pause in sales after just three days.  

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