Choosing car numbers to get costlier in Delhi

According to a new proposal of the transport department, customers will have to pay if they want to choose a number. If there is more than one contender for it, an auction will decide who gets it.

If you are looking to pick a registration number of your choice for your new car, be ready to shell out at least Rs 20,000 starting next week even for a non-VIP number.

Cars-bearing-VIP-number-plates-parked-in-Mukherjee-Nagar-New-Delhi-HT-Photo-Arvind-Yadav

According to a new proposal of the transport department, customers will have to pay the sum for a number of their choice. If there is more than one contender for it, an auction will decide who gets it.

Currently, VIP numbers are available through auction for Rs 1 lakh-Rs 5 lakh depending on how fancy it is. Non-VIP numbers are available for free. For instance, the base price for ‘0001’ is Rs 5 lakh, while the numbers 0002-0009 would cost Rs 3 lakh.

But if a person chooses 1983 for his car, maybe because it is his or her year of birth, it is available free of cost, said senior transport department officials.

VIP numbers are seen as status symbols in Delhi, and most numerologists recommend numbers starting with 1, 7 or 9. But since these come with a heavy price tag, people often opt for numbers that are easy to remember, mostly after consulting numerologists and religious leaders.

Sources said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has decided to make the entire process online. “If someone is not interested in selecting a number, the computer will automatically generate number for the car. It will reduce corruption also as people had to pay a bribe to get the number of their choice. Currently, there are 140 paid registration numbers and the list will be flexible now,” the official added.

Over 1,300 new cars are registered every day in Delhi and officials said they issue 80-100 fancy numbers every day.

According to the economic survey tabled in the Delhi assembly on Wednesday, the number of motor vehicles as on March 31 was 88.27 lakh, showing an increase of 6.4%.