KUALA LUMPUR - Ever looked at a taxi's and wanted a plate number starting with H? Now's your chance.
The Road Transport Department (JPJ) is opening bids for its special H-series vehicle registration numbers from Wednesday to Sunday, with numbers H1 to H9,999 up for grabs, in a nod to Malaysia Day.
JPJ director-general Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli said bids go through the JPJeBid app, with winners announced on Sept 21.
Prices start from RM300 for regular running numbers, climbing to RM500 for popular numbers, RM2,500 for attractive numbers, RM5,000 for premium numbers and RM20,000 for golden numbers.
Here's the kicker: H is the last single-letter series JPJ will ever release. Once this round is done, that's it - no more solo letters.
"This series is very special, and the public is encouraged to take this opportunity to bid for a number, as RTD will not be offering any more single-letter series," Aedy Fadly said recently.
He also cleared up some confusion: this H-series is not the same as the "H" you see on taxis, which always comes paired with a state letter.
"For example, taxis in Perak are registered with the letters 'HA', with 'A' representing the state registration letter," he added.
The H-series isn't the department's first foray into symbolic, one-off registration series, but the country's special plate auctions have a history of drawing eye-watering bids.
The record for Malaysia's most expensive plate belongs to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim, who has repeatedly outbid himself for prestige numbers.
He first set a national record with a RM1.5 million bid for "GOLD 1" in February 2024, then broke his own record four months later with a RM1.75 million bid for "FFF 1", after previously winning "FF1" for RM1.2 million.
The FF series alone generated RM35 million in revenue for RTD.
More recently, RTD's "P_P" series - launched in conjunction with the department's 80th anniversary in Penang raised more than RM21.6 million from over 19,000 bidders, with the top bid of RM1.1 million going to "P1P".
RTD's special series typically follow a tiered pricing structure. Bidding usually starts from RM20,000 for golden numbers, RM5,000 for premium numbers, RM2,500 for attractive numbers, RM500 for popular numbers and RM300 for regular numbers - the same structure applied to the H-series.
For everyday bidders, plate auctions tend to be driven by personal meaning rather than prestige - birth years, repeating digits, or numbers considered auspicious. Numbers with repeating digits, mirror patterns, or culturally significant combinations typically attract the most competition and the highest bids relative to their reserve price.