Dubai’s premium vehicle plate market, where individual plates can reach Dh55 million ($15m), will soon welcome the UAE’s first escrow-backed online marketplace.
The Mazal app will hold buyers’ funds until ownership transfer is confirmed, providing security to a second-hand market that has traditionally relied on social media, independent brokers, and manual processes.
The platform aligns with Roads and Transport Authority regulations, offering a secure marketplace with verified buyers and increasing confidence in high-value auctions.
Dubai’s private number plate market is growing by approximately 20 per cent annually, with single-digit and special-number plates commanding high values.
In the past three years, Dubai’s status-symbol vehicle plate market has seen Dh1.7 billion ($463 million) in transactions, according to Mazal app data analysts. Mazal will manage these high-value transactions.
The Emirati founders said that Mazal aims to set a new digital standard for Dubai’s premium number plate market, leveraging the city’s growing collectables sector.
Abdulla AlMeer, chairman of Mazal Dubai’s executive board and a 21-year government employee, has long sought to develop a legal, secure secondary market.
“Number plates have been associated with Dubai since the beginning, as the leadership awarded number plates to big executives,” he said.
“That has developed to where number plates have become a lifestyle in Dubai. I have seen the market surge for number plates sold through apps like Instagram and other social media channels.
“But there has never been an escrow system where you can transact the plate securely between two people. Mazal is the first system in the UAE where you can auction number plates like this.”
Secure trading
Mazal aims to bring more structure and efficiency to a market that has traditionally relied on informal transactions, and to provide users with a centralised environment that secures number plates before making them available for trading.
Under its transaction framework, Mazal securely holds buyers’ funds from the moment a deal is agreed and releases them only once the official ownership transfer is confirmed.
As an added layer of security and to instil confidence in transactions, Mazal has partnered with Transguard to facilitate large cash transactions.
Users can initiate the sale or purchase of a number plate using a unique QR code before transaction fees are held in escrow.
An escrow account is a temporary holding account managed by a neutral third party that keeps money or documents safe until the conditions of a contract or transaction are met.
Mazal charges a 5 per cent brokerage fee on each sale.
“Number plates are like gold, so we have categorised them as 18, 21, or 24 carat. The highest value is mithali, which means perfect or the pinnacle in Arabic,” said Mr AlMeer, who has worked on the project since its inception 13 years ago.
“A Rolex watch may set you apart in a meeting room, but number plates distinguish you on the roads of Dubai.
“Everyone can see your status. The only question is whether you are a millionaire or a billionaire.
“The number plates indicate the status of the person in the car.
“There was no marketplace for secondary trading of plates until Mazal was created.”
Multi-million dirham purchase
Mr AlMeer has two expensive number plates of his own.
The number 609, estimated at Dh900,000, is on his green Range Rover, while 6900, valued at Dh500,000, is on his Lamborghini.
Ahmad Al Nasser, co-founder and chief executive of Mazal, said Dubai’s premium number plate market has become a sophisticated trading environment, with plates increasingly recognised for their scarcity, value, and long-term potential.
“After years in the commercial side of this industry, I have seen the need for a platform that offers greater efficiency, transparency, and accessibility in trading these assets.
“Mazal is designed to provide that structure while preserving what makes this market unique.”
High-value number plates
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Dubai number plate 7 sold for 55 million dirhams. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National -
The charity auction was held in aid of the One Billion Meals Endowment campaign -
The winner of the Dubai 7 number plate at the charity auction -
The event was held at the Four Seasons Resort Dubai -
Exclusive mobile numbers also went under the hammer -
The bidding was tense -
Special Dubai number plates were sold -
Exclusive mobile numbers were also auctioned -
Dubai number plate Q 22222 sold for 975,000 dirhams -
An exclusive mobile number sold for 140,000 dirhams -
The charity event attracted many bidders -
Another mobile number sold for 125,000 dirhams -
An exclusive mobile number sold for 2.3 million dirhams
Dubai’s record number plate, P7, sold at auction for Dh55m in 2023, while in Abu Dhabi, the number one sold for Dh52.2m in 2008 by Emirati businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri.
Other high-value plates sold at Emirates Auction include AA9 (Dubai), which sold for Dh38 million at a 2021 charity auction, and DD6, which sold for Dh37 million in March 2026 at the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa.
Other valuable Dubai plates include AA8 (Dh35 million), DD5 (Dh35 million), sold in a 2025 government auction, and D5, purchased for Dh33 million by Indian businessman Balwinder Sahani in 2016.
