Record at online auction "Andy2" bids 299,000 francs for the "ZH 24" license plate

It is the most expensive license plate in the country: a person with the pseudonym "Andy2" has secured the "ZH 24" license plate at an online auction for a whopping 299,000 francs.

At an online auction on Wednesday evening, a person with the pseudonym "Andy2" secured the "ZH 24" number plate for CHF 299,000: it is the lowest number that the Zurich Road Traffic Office has ever auctioned - and it is the most expensive plate in the country.

The most expensive license plate to date was "ZG 10", which was auctioned off in Zug in 2018 for 233,000 francs. In the canton of Zurich, "ZH 100" was the license plate that was worth the most to one car owner: he bought it at auction in 2022 for 226,000 francs. The smallest Zurich number to date, "ZH 50", went for 202,000 francs in August 2023.

For a long time, there was no sign of a record. But after it had remained quiet around "ZH 24" since Monday evening after 99 bids at 151,000 Swiss francs, things took a turn for the worse on Wednesday in the last hour before the auction ended. Instead of moving forward with the minimum increase of 1,000 francs, bidders added up to 34,000 francs per step in some cases.

A sign for the European Football Championship

The Road Traffic Office had advertised the license plate in connection with the current European Football Championship and the appearance of the Swiss national team: "ZH 24" stands for a football summer full of emotion, it said in the announcement for the "historic license plate auction" a week ago. The cantonal councillor responsible and football fan Mario Fehr (non-party) posed in a red Swiss shirt with the license plate.

He was delighted with the "sensational auction result", Fehr was quoted as saying in a press release on Wednesday evening. "And I'm equally looking forward to our national team's quarter-final match."

Annual revenue of 5 million francs

The canton of Zurich auctions off five-digit and lower number plates as well as special six-digit number combinations on the Internet every week. In each of the last two years, it has generated revenue of around 5 million francs. This income flows into the general state coffers of the Canton of Zurich.

A new round of auctions will start on Thursday; until next Wednesday evening, "ZH 770" (from 4,000 francs), "ZH 1903" (from 2,000 francs) and "ZH 975,000" (from 100 francs), among others, will go under the virtual hammer.

SDA