Asking, Auction Closing and Dealer Buying Prices Explained
Asking price, DLT auction closing price or dealer buying price? How the three differ and how to use the market median the right way.
Published 3 October 2026
Contents
- Three prices people often mix up
- Asking prices already include the dealer's profit
- The liquidity discount is an assumption and must be labelled as one
- Auction closing prices are real and verifiable, but do not cover every plate
- The special plate market has cooled since 2023
- How to use the calculator's market median
Three prices people often mix up
When you see a price for a plate, that figure can be one of three different prices: the asking price posted by a dealer or seller, the Department of Land Transport auction closing price, or the price a dealer pays to buy. These three answer different questions and must not be combined in one calculation.
Asking prices are the easiest to see and the most numerous, so they form the basis of market comparison. Auction closing prices are public, verifiable data, but exist only for plates auctioned in that round. Dealer buying prices are figures dealers offer case by case and are not published.
| Price | Who sets it | Publicly disclosed | What question it answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asking price | Plate dealer or seller | Yes, in the sale listing | What the market lists this kind of plate for |
| Auction closing price | Competitive bidding in the Department of Land Transport auction | Yes, verifiable | What a newly issued plate like this was bought for |
| Dealer buying price | The dealer making the offer | Not published | How much you would get if you sold immediately |
Asking prices already include the dealer's profit
A dealer's asking price already includes profit, so the price the dealer pays to buy is much lower, but we have found no publicly published data on the spread between the two. Valuation therefore has to rely on indirect evidence.
One piece of indirect evidence is plates with the same number in closely neighbouring new series, such as 4ขง 5 through 4ขณ 5, which one dealer listed at asking prices from ฿235,000 to ฿299,000 as of 29 September 2026. This suggests plentiful supply and sellers competing on price. Rare numbers have less supply, so people who study the market suggest a smaller discount for that group.
The liquidity discount is an assumption and must be labelled as one
People who study this market suggest that, to estimate the price a plate can actually sell for, you deduct a liquidity discount of about 20 to 40 percent from the asking price for ordinary new series, and about 10 to 25 percent for rare numbers. These figures are the researchers' assumption, not published statistics and not data this site can measure, so this site's price calculator does not use them.
Use this range only as a starting point when negotiating. A better approach is to ask three or more dealers for buying prices, then compare with actual auction results for similar numbers. Plate brokers in the United Kingdom also estimate prices from past sales on the same principle, comparing with real transactions rather than deducting a fixed percentage.
Auction closing prices are real and verifiable, but do not cover every plate
Department of Land Transport auction results are public, making them the most reliable price evidence in this market. For example, plate 9กก 9999 closed at ฿45,090,000 in December 2022 after 202 bids, breaking the previous record of ฿28,100,000 set by 8กก 8888, and plate 3ขข 3333 closed at ฿4,000,000 in June 2025 after 162 bids.
The limitation is that auction results only show prices for plates newly issued in that round. Plates that change hands on the secondary market have no published price. This site always shows the auction closing prices we have collected separately from asking prices, and does not combine them into the market median, because they are different kinds of price. A plate that matches a result from a round we have collected gets an auction closing price box on its plate page. A plate without this box has not necessarily never been auctioned; it means we do not yet have the result for that round.
The special plate market has cooled since 2023
Auction revenue per round has fallen since the market's peak. Published figures for special plate and letter series rounds are shown in the table below. Revenue per round also depends on how many numbers were offered in that round, so it is a rough signal of market heat, not a price index.
As a result, prices that closed during the hot market should not be used directly as a baseline now. Choose data from within 12 to 24 months. When the special plate programme launched, the Department of Land Transport projected revenue for the fund of ฿1,000 million a year (2022), which was only a projection. We have not found a verified figure for total revenue for fiscal years 2025 to 2026.
| Round | Revenue | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Special plates, round 5 | ฿126.86 million | July 2023 |
| Special letter series 1ขข | ฿61,423,897 | September 2023 |
| Special plates, round 11/2025 | ฿25.82 million | 2025 |
| Special plates, round 12 | Over ฿42.7 million | 20 December 2025 |
How to use the calculator's market median
The market median the calculator shows is the median of asking prices in the comparable plates group, so it sits near the high end of the low, middle and high price framework. It is not the price you should pay. If the price you are offered is far above the market median, the seller has priced it higher than similar plates. If it is far below, check the plate's status and documents first to make sure there is no problem.
The calculator's cheap or expensive verdict is therefore a starting point for negotiation, not a conclusion about whether to buy. The next step is to deduct liquidity and transaction costs as described in the article on how to value a license plate in 7 steps, and to get buying prices from at least three dealers to compare.
Numbers mentioned in this article
FAQ on this topic
How does an auction closing price differ from this site's market median?
An auction closing price is the result of real competitive bidding in a Department of Land Transport auction. This site's market median is the median of asking prices on the secondary market. They are different kinds of price; we show them separately and do not combine them in calculations.
Why does this site not show dealer buying prices or actual secondary market sale prices?
Because no data is published. Dealer buying prices are offered case by case, and prices actually agreed on the secondary market are not disclosed. So we neither show nor estimate them. If you want a buying price, ask several dealers directly.
Where can I see the latest Department of Land Transport auction results?
On the Department of Land Transport's official auction website, which announces the order of numbers and the results of each round. The auction closing prices this site has collected appear on the matching plate pages, with the auction round and a link to the original result.
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Numerology readings are a matter of personal belief. Please use your own judgement. They are not a guarantee of any outcome.