What Delaware license plates tell us about social status signalling

I remember somebody bringing up that supposedly people paid large sums of money for low number license plates in Saudi Arabia as "proof" of their vanity. Apparently it happens here too, and probably anywhere else with low number license plates. Goes to show that whenever someone talks about some strange thing happening in far away place, you should always ask if it's even unique to that place.

At one time, DC tags 100 and under were controlled by the mayor. I believe that Marion Barry once pulled somebody's low-number tag over a falling out.

I do see at least one very low number tag in my neighborhood, but have no idea who owns it or why.

As a Delaware native, I can confirm this is something we normally keep an eye out for on the road. I’ve seen a few 2-digit and 3-digit plates, but never a 1-digit.

It may be a vanity/social signaling tactic, but I honestly believe it’s because there isn’t much else to do in Delaware...

Reminds me of the prestige low-digit Slashdot user IDs (used to?) hold.

(I'm /. 309880!) ;-)