Twenty-million dollars will buy you a lot of car. For that price, you could buy about 40 copies of the Rolls-Royce Phantom. You could buy three of every contender for the disputed title of world’s fastest production car. Or, you could buy a Mitsubishi Mirage for yourself, and one for each of your 1,427 closest friends. Then again, you could buy the entire current Volvo lineup … 59 times.
Or you could buy this one Volvo V70 wagon, age unknown, mileage unknown. Yes, for $20,000,000.
They didn’t even bother to wash it for the photos.
Why does the seller think anyone would fork over the price of almost 1,500 Chevy Sparks for one aging wagon covered in road salt? Because of the license plate.
Dupont Registry, the marketplace for the ultra-wealthy, is managing the sale. It explains that “In the late 1970s when New York State first began offering custom vanity plates, one New York resident successfully ordered the one and only ‘New York,’ New York license plate. The family has maintained ownership of the plate ever since.”
Thus, it’s not the Volvo that holds the value, the owner thinks. It’s the chance to drive around with a license plate reading “New York, New York.”
Plate Transfer in Question
Before you call your banker while humming the Sinatra tune, we should caution that it isn’t actually clear that ownership of the license plate even can be transferred.
According to the New York DMV, it is legal to transfer plates from your old car to your new car. But, crucially, that requires the same person owns both cars. “You can transfer vehicle plates and the registration that are in your name to another vehicle to be registered or renewed in your name,” the DMV says. On selling a car to another person, you must surrender the plates.
DuPont Registry clearly believes that a clever lawyer can make this work, explaining, “Transferring the registration will be handled by counsel with all monies to be placed in escrow until the transaction is complete. This is being offered for sale by a private seller. The transaction will be completed by the buying and selling parties. NY DMV transfer fees will be paid by the seller.”
For our money, we’d probably just buy the $5 replica plate for sale at most cheap tourist bodegas in Times Square and save ourselves $19,999,995.
