New craze on unique mobile & car plate number
Are you willing to spend QR150,000 just to have a unique mobile or car plate number???
Source: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/203861-rare-number-craze-spawns-n...
DOHA: There is so much craze for unique and easy-to-remember mobile phone and car plate numbers in the Qatari community that many people take bank loans to buy such numbers.
Taking advantage of the trend a whole new set of people has emerged in the community for whom buying and selling such numbers is a lucrative business.
These people buy several easy-to-remember mobile and car plate numbers at a time and insert advertisements in local newspapers as well as on websites offering them for ‘sale’.
Mobile phone or car plate numbers that begin with a digit that is repeated several times over such as 55555 or 66666 carry a premium. Such a number can sell for up to QR150,000, Al Sharq reported yesterday.
There are many people who want their mobile number to have some similarity with their car plate numbers and for that they are willing to spend hugely.
Then, there are others who prefer a mobile number that shows their date of birth. Such numbers are also sold at a premium.
And, interestingly, a very old car that literally has no value but has a unique number can be sold for tens of thousands of riyals.“There is so much craze for unique mobile phone and car numbers that many people take bank loans to buy them,” a citizen, Mohamed Al Rumaihi, told the daily.
A car plate registration can be changed by the traffic department if the owner is willing to transfer it to someone else. “Buying and selling unique numbers is a lucrative business for many in the community. If one has an easy-to-remember mobile number which one has bought for QR100,000, for instance, one can easily sell it for QR150,000, making a clean profit of QR50,000,” another citizen, Sultan Al Kuwari told the daily.
Contacted for comment, a senior official of the Ministry of Business and Trade told The Peninsula that since the entire issue involves people’s hobby, there is hardly anything the government can do to curb the trend.
“This is people’s private affair. All we in the government can do is raise awareness against it but cannot control it legally. Yes, the government should wage an awareness campaign since this is sheer waste of money,” said the official asking not to be named.
Confirming that many people were taking bank loans to buy unique mobile and car plate numbers, he said a welcome development has been that the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has imposed a maximum cap on loans.
The craze is mostly among the younger and unmarried people, the official said. “Their monthly pay packets are huge (on average, QR30,000 to QR40,000) and they have no family responsibility so they tend to splurge their earnings on such things,” he remarked.
The trend is not peculiar to Qatar and is prevalent elsewhere in the GCC, but Qatar is on top of the list, he said.
THE PENINSULA
People who take loan for sure are convinced that it is reasonable enough to take the loan for some easy to remember number....:)
@britey, it's easy to remember yes but i think it's still not enough reason to have a bank loan just to have the most coveted easy-to-memorize or unique phone or car plate number :)
What a complete waste of money. :))
They're easy to remember. For example 66667777 - Strawberry_shisha is all at sixes and sevens :O)
Seems the amount of money paid to get those numbers is what makes them special...:)
what's so special about this numbers anyway???
M not surprised.this is what happens to people with easy earned money & they dont know what to do about it. "take a loan & buy a number plate"...cant stop laughing...i didnt even know those numbers were special...!
And recently I have come across many cars painted in Fluorescent colors. It is so difficult to even look at them. What kind of craze is this?
Damn. i never thought of that .
hold on.. you told me that bluebull can't read :O(
britey u twisted leg reptile, now bluebull will unlock and take ur cycle....:)
is free the chais or the number...:P
Rizks just offered me 66823195 for 1200QR and two karak chais.
It is the same as my bicycle lock number :O)
now a days it is not required to remember the phone numbers as we many options for saving dem
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/traffic-transport/abu-dhabi-licence-plate-no-1-wins-record-dh52-2m-1.85130
LP & PP .. in that they won't remember their phone numbers too!
Qatar is on top of the list, But World's most expensive number was bought in Emirates :)
They always lie!
i would pay more for DTR number... Difficult to Remember !
@inge dude..i hear ya..i hope they read these too..
Strawberry, What you are talking about? O_o they agree to pay 15000 riyals only in sum of traffic fines, but won't drive slow and increase the salary of those poor maids and servants working in their palaces
LP, LMAO, Surely, as we have plenty of people around the world having IQ Level under 50...
special numbers do give some priviledge;
If i see a car numbered 0001, I'd give preference to it on road;
Normally when we drive do we notice the number or concentrate on our driving. Who the damn gives a care for these numbers or just ordinary number plates.
possible
Let us start this noble cause. What you say. :-)
Let's be fair. Those who run for a four-digit plate number are too stupid to remember five or six digits!
knws how much dey mite be investing in charity
they have to think twice, thrice or even 100 times before donating it to hungry and the needy....:(
@ingeniero, they have loads and heaps of money that they can afford to burn those money..i wish they just donate it to a charity to feed the hungry and the needy..
LP, agree, but they don't understand... spending on number plates and mobile number is just a waste of money!
Every phone number is unique! Every car plate number is unique! They only exist once!
shaktiman, you're answerable to Taxmen too in addition to God for your expenditure & incomes :)
get ready to flush it with pain now :)
I do invest and recently getting lots produced in my stomach.
tomatoes that is the best investment as some times u can produce calcium stones....lolz
Wallahi. Probably i might have done. But never on booze or cigarette or such unique stuff. I these days spend only on my wife jewelleries and sandals and tomatoes.
btw what is UNIQUE MOBILE
r u sure no never ever wasted on useless things...:P
In this country no way nor in India. Iam answerable to god for the expenditure i do. So why waste on useless things not worth it.
i prefer low profiles difficult to remember number plates/ph no
When one has loads of easy money in hands this is what happens. Govt. auctions are a different story altogether.
This happens around the world - a way for the traffic department and telco's to generate some revenue too.
A car is the worst depreciating asset, so why not invest in a number plate which has a big secondary market. Whether I want to invest QAR 150k is another thing.
yr right PP who got affected wud tell u the true experience
talks better :)
"The craze is mostly among the younger and unmarried people"...coz after marriage they hav to spend on their partners and kids or else will get a kick on the back...:)