Vietnamese authorities are expected to auction license plate numbers that are believed to bring good luck to the owners on a trial basis in five of the country’s major cities.

The auction will be organized in Hanoi and Hai Phong in northern Vietnam, Da Nang in the central region, and Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho in the south, according to the traffic police division under the Ministry of Public Security.

Following the pilot auction, an evaluation will be carried out before the practice is multiplied across the country.

The auction has been postponed for long as competent authorities kept facing difficulties in executing it.

License plate numbers thought to bring good luck to the owners were up for auction for the first time in Hai Phong in 1993 due to citizens’ demand to have their desired digits.

Following a two-month trial, 94 people agreed to pay an extra fee to be granted the license plate numbers they personally preferred.

A detailed plan was then formulated by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Finance, and submitted to the central government for approval, but it could not be implemented given objections from local media and the public.

In accordance with current regulations, buyers of vehicles are given their license plates on a random basis, after paying a certain fee for paperwork.

In 2008, traffic police in the south-central province of Binh Thuan and the north-central province of Nghe An auctioned the kind of license plate number, whose income would be used to support the local poor people.

Several other localities also wanted to follow in the footsteps by submitting their requests to the Ministry of Public Security.

However, all plans were halted in 2011 when the government decided to add one more digit to the then-four-digit number plates for better management.

The project is restarted this year with an aim to meet rising demand, collect extra revenue for the local coffers, and create transparency in the issuance of license plates.

The public security ministry has coordinated with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice to prepare the scheme.

A car with a desirable license plate number in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre 

Two approaches

Colonel Tran Quoc Trung, deputy chief of the traffic police division, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that aside from the five major cities, other localities can also join the pilot phase if they meet the requirements.

According to Colonel Le Xuan Duc, another deputy head of the agency, the auction will be carried out following two mechanisms.

The first method involves the sale of easy-to-remember and supposedly lucky numbers such as 888.88 or 999.99, Col. Duc said.

In the second approach, vehicle owners will be allowed to choose a series of digits matching whatever they prefer, like birthdays or anniversaries.

The auction will be organized publicly, the police official said, adding that bidders will need to pay a deposit for attendance.

Each locality will decide on the reserve price for any specific set of numbers.

The auction is expected to provide a considerable amount of money for the national budget, Duc added.

Resale concern

Several questions have been asked over the probable resale of these license plates once they are sold to the highest bidders.

Regarding this probability, an official from the traffic police division confirmed they are proposing a regulation that prevents people from reselling the digits.

The number plate can only be passed to another owner along with the vehicle in a vehicle transfer procedure, he stated.

During an interview with Tuoi Tre, an official from the Ministry of Finance expressed his support for the auction plan.

License plate numbers are public property, whose potential should be leveraged via the sale, he elaborated.

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