8. Delaware License Plates

Summary

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The Economics of Everyday Things

Episode 8: Delaware License Plates

Host: Zachary Crockett (Freakonomics Network)
Date: January 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into an unexpected status symbol: low-digit Delaware license plates. Host Zachary Crockett explores how, in Delaware, a simple string of numbers on a license plate can be worth far more than the car it’s attached to. The episode unpacks the quirky tradition, its economic logic, and the subculture of plate collectors, revealing how scarcity and status combine to create a booming micro-market.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Delaware’s Unique License Plate Culture

• In Delaware, low-digit license plates are a historical status symbol, originating in the early 1900s when plates were first issued in numerical order, with the lowest numbers reserved for politicians and prominent families.
• The tradition has given rise to a thriving resale market for desirable numbers, with special value placed on single- and double-digit tags.
• “Over time, license plates have become a status symbol in Delaware society.” (Zachary Crockett, 01:01)

2. The Marketplace for License Plates

• Delaware is one of few states that allow license plate numbers to be transferred between individuals, enabling an active marketplace.
• Aaron Dunphy runs LowDigitTags.com, the main marketplace for these plates. Since 2005, he has brokered over 2,000 sales.
• Prices range from $1,200 for higher digit numbers up to $65,000 for certain three-digit plates, and potentially over a million for single-digit tags.
• The transfer process is streamlined: “You can go to the DMV and you can have the tag transferred from one person to the next within minutes... With some of the other states, it takes almost nine months.” (Aaron Dunphy, 04:21)

3. What Buyers Value—and Pay For

• The actual metal plate is nearly worthless; the value lies in the number and the legal right to display it.
• Demand can be sentimental (birthdays, addresses, divorce dates) not just about status.
• “I've sold license plates because of birthdays, addresses, divorce dates...Any type of numbers that might mean something bring a lot more money.” (Aaron Dunphy, 05:19)
• A 2020 NBER working paper estimated the value of Delaware plates between numbers 10 and 9999 at $227 million—six times the Delaware DMV's annual operating budget.

4. The Collectors and Their Motivations

• Frank Vasallo III, a retired developer, details his family’s obsession, started by his father-in-law in the 1960s.
• The family has spent about $2 million to acquire and maintain over a dozen low-digit tags, including single digits—some acquired for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• “In 1994, Fusco acquired number nine for $185,000 and put it on his white Mercedes.” (Zachary Crockett, 08:59)
• These plates are so valuable they create pressure to keep vehicle registrations updated; missed renewals can allow “vultures” to swoop in and claim expired plates.

5. Status, Scarcity, and Economics

• In Delaware, “having a low digit tag on your car makes you a celebrity.” (Zachary Crockett, 11:10)
• The plates are comparable to classic Veblen goods: they are valued because they are expensive and exclusive.
• Internationally, similar markets exist in places like Dubai and China, with multi-million dollar plate sales.

6. Long-Term Value and Family Heirlooms

• As with fine art or property, these plates appreciate in value; average long-term return is estimated at about 7–9%, though the market is thin.
• “On average, over a long term, you're at about a 9% annual return.” (Aaron Dunphy, 12:42)
• A notable example: Plate number 20 went from $5,000 in 1958 to $410,000 in 2018—a 7.6% annual growth.
• Plates often become prized family heirlooms, subject to inheritance battles, divorce settlements, and auctions among heirs:
  • “The license plate is probably one of the first things that they usually handle. A lot of times the siblings want the license plate, so it ends up having to almost go into an auction setup.” (Aaron Dunphy, 13:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Would you trade your license plate for a million dollars?
  • “No.” (Frank Vasallo III, 01:17)
• On market value and appreciation:
  • “If you'll buy a car, you're losing 20, 30% right away. Whereas if you have a tag, most likely it's going to be appreciating over time.” (Aaron Dunphy, 12:42)
• On status:
  • “If you had a low license plate, either a politician or a big wig in town. I mean, it's a Delawarean type of thing.” (Frank Vasallo III, 11:38)
• On celebrity and visibility:
  • “A lot of people ask if they could take a picture of the car and the tag...All the guys stopped what they were doing. They all wanted to look at the car and the tag.” (Frank Vasallo III, 11:15)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------| | 00:47 | Introduction: License plates as status | | 01:13 | Would you trade your license plate? | | 02:51 | Aaron Dunphy & the license plate market | | 04:21 | Transfer process and Delaware’s DMV | | 05:14 | Sentimental value in plate numbers | | 05:32 | Economic analysis: market valuation | | 07:31 | Plates worth more than the cars/houses | | 07:50 | Frank Vasallo III: Collector’s perspective | | 08:59 | Vasallo family collection and big purchases | | 10:38 | The importance of renewing registrations | | 11:09 | Delaware’s license plate celebrity status | | 11:50 | International license plate markets | | 12:42 | Plates as investment | | 13:32 | Plates in wills and inheritance |

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Conclusion

This episode reveals how something as mundane as a license plate can have profound economic and cultural meaning in a small state like Delaware. Scarcity, simple rules allowing transfers, and a bit of historical luck have turned these tags into prized, appreciating assets—symbols of wealth and lineage, rivaling art and real estate in both value and emotional attachment.

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Transcript

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[Zachary Crockett]

For most of us, a license plate number is a random, forgettable jumble of letters and digits. It serves no purpose other than identifying our vehicles to cops and DMV employees. But in the state of Delaware, the right license plate number is a valuable asset. Would you trade your license plate for a brand new Porsche?

[Aaron Dunphy]

No.

[Zachary Crockett]

Would you trade your license plate for a million dollars?

[Frank Vasallo III]

No.

[Zachary Crockett]

Two million dollars? Maybe for the Freakonomics radio network. This is the economics of everyday things. Hi, I'm Zachary Crockett. Today, Delaware license plates US states began issuing license plates in the early 1900s. They were a way to keep track of a growing fleet of automobiles and Delaware was among the first to mandate them. The Blue Hen State distributed black porcelain plates in numerical order. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 were reserved for Delaware's governor, lieutenant governor, and Secretary of state. And many of the next most low digit tags went to politicians and prominent families. Number four, for instance, it went to the commissioner of the Delaware State Highway Department. The former mayor of Wilmington got number 40, his sister got number 30 and his chauffeur got number 60. Over time, license plates have become a status symbol in Delaware society. But what if you didn't happen to be a member of the Delaware elite at the turn of the last century? Well, luckily for you, this is America where there are very few status symbols that cannot be bought. Delaware allows its residents to transfer their license plate numbers to other drivers, and this has created a market for the most desirable tags. These days, when someone wants to buy or sell a license plate, they turn to Aaron Dunphy.

[Aaron Dunphy]

I run low digit tags, basically a marketplace for Delaware license plates.

[Zachary Crockett]

Dunphy came to Delaware in the 90s and found work at a Mercedes dealership. He began to notice that a lot of the customers were more interested in the license plates than the cars.

[Aaron Dunphy]

Everybody was Asking around, hey, where can I get a black tag? And I thought of the idea, you know what, maybe I should start posting some ads in the classified section of the local paper. So I started spending quite a bit of money, almost $300 a week, just putting wanted low digit tags. And I started getting phone calls left and right.

[Zachary Crockett]

Dunphy set up a website in 2005, and since then, he's arranged the sale of more than 2,000 low digit license plates. On LowDigitTags.com, you'll find more than 50 license plate numbers for sale, ranging from 1,200 bucks for a five digit to $65,000 for the number 979. The process is simple. Let's say you have plate number 52 and you want to sell it. Dunphy runs a search for some recent comparable sales and comes up with a list price. Then he goes through his Rolodex to see if any high flying license plate buyers are interested. Once an offer is made and accepted, the buyer and seller go to the DMV to transfer the title. And this is where Delaware has a bureaucratic advantage.

[Aaron Dunphy]

You can go to the DMV and you can have the tag transferred from one person to the next within minutes as soon as you get to the person at the desk. With some of the other states, it takes almost nine months.

[Zachary Crockett]

What you're paying for when you buy a low digit tag is not the physical license plate itself. That's essentially worthless. You can go on ebay and find old, out of commission Delaware tags for 10 bucks. The value is in the number and the right to display it on your vehicle. There are only nine single digit plates in existence. There's no zero plate. In a given decade, you might only see one of them come up on the market. And Dunphy says the next one to hit the auction block would go fast. Even with an asking price that would fund most Americans retirement, There'd probably be.

[Aaron Dunphy]

About five phone calls that I'd make. And my guess is it would be sold within the hour.

[Zachary Crockett]

Sometimes a plate sells for a higher price because it has sentimental value to a buyer.

[Aaron Dunphy]

I've sold license plates because of birthdays, addresses, divorce dates. I mean, you name it. Any type of numbers that might mean something to a lot of people out there bring a lot more money.

[Zachary Crockett]

Demand for these tags is no joke. In a 2020 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, economists pinned the total value of Delaware plates from the numbers 10 through 9999 at $227 million. That's nearly six times the operating budget of the Delaware DMV. So who would buy a license plate number for several times the median annual salary? That's coming up.

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[Frank Vasallo III]

Well my father in law started purchasing tags in the late 60s. Started out with three digit and a couple four digit tags and it just over the years became a passion.

[Zachary Crockett]

That's Frank Vasallo iii. He's a retired real estate developer, the second of three generations to run a company called Fusco Management.

[Frank Vasallo III]

Local strip shopping centers, you know, fast food, supermarkets, cvs, Walgreens, stuff like that. All in Delaware.

[Zachary Crockett]

Fasallo's father in law, Anthony Fusco started the business back in 1965. And when he struck it rich, he decided to treat himself to something he'd always pined for, a low digit Delaware tag. He bought his first plate number, 477, for 800 bucks. From there, it quickly became an obsession.

[Frank Vasallo III]

He's a numbers guy. I mean, with business and, you know, he likes to gamble a little bit. So numbers are a big part of that. He was kind of taken in by the black and white old tags and the history with them and, you know, just started getting them.

[Zachary Crockett]

Okay, just started getting them is a slight understatement. Vassallo's family now owns what is probably the largest collection of low digit license plates in the state. In 1994, Fusco acquired number nine for $185,000 and put it on his white Mercedes. The family snapped up number eight in a private sale. And in 2008, Vassallo's son spent a record setting $675,000 on number six at an auction.

[Frank Vasallo III]

I was actually in California on the phone with him as the bid was going on, and my son kept saying, hi, am I going? I said, I'll tell you when to stop. I'll tell you when to stop.

[Zachary Crockett]

Aaron Dunphy says you would have to bid even higher today.

[Aaron Dunphy]

Single digits. If one became available, it would really sell close to a million dollars, two digit. Over the past two years, they've probably sold anywhere from low hundreds to over 400,000. Three digits. There's been some that have sold as reasonable as 30,000 up to some that have sold well over 100,000, according to Frank Fasallo.

[Zachary Crockett]

In total, his family has spent around $2 million on over a dozen plates over the years. When you have that kind of money tied up in license plates, you have to be extremely vigilant about renewing your registrations. If you miss one, the DMV has the right to release it to the public after 12 months. And there are license plate vultures waiting to pounce at the opportunity.

[Frank Vasallo III]

Either they have friends at DMV or they're there and they see the tag has expired and jump right on it.

[Zachary Crockett]

His family makes sure to put them to use.

[Frank Vasallo III]

We have all the tags in a separate corporation, and most of the family members have them on their cars. You know, that becomes the issue. If you have 15 tags, you need 15 cars. So, you know, my nieces, nephews, my father in law.

[Zachary Crockett]

And what kind of car do you have it on now?

[Frank Vasallo III]

I have nine on a Bentley.

[Zachary Crockett]

Nice. That's a car that's worthy of the special tag.

[Frank Vasallo III]

Yeah, exactly.

[Zachary Crockett]

In Delaware, having A low digit tag on your car makes you a celebrity.

[Frank Vasallo III]

A lot of people ask if they could take a picture of the car and the tag. I just got one pulling up here. There's road construction, and all the guys stopped what they were doing. They all wanted to look at the car and the tag. So this is interesting.

[Zachary Crockett]

This is part of the allure. For the buyers of low digit tags, the plates are a way of saying, not so subtly, yeah, I'm rich.

[Frank Vasallo III]

You know, it always had a status symbol. If you had a low license plate, either a politician or a big wig in town. I mean, it's a Delawarean type of thing.

[Zachary Crockett]

The market for low digit plates may be mostly a Delaware thing, but it's popped up in other places, too. In Dubai, someone shelled out $14.3 million for plate number one in 2008. A few years later, number five fetched nine million. And in China, a bidding war for the plate, 999, got so intense that it turned into a bloody brawl. Expensive license plate numbers are a perfect example of what economists call a Veblen Good. That's a luxury item where the high price is a part of the appeal. Functionally, they're no different from any other license plate. It's their scarcity that gives them value. But Dunphy says that a low digit plate is also an investment, like fine arts or a piece of real estate.

[Aaron Dunphy]

Everybody always says, why would you spend that much money for a tag? Well, if you'll buy a car, you're losing 20, 30% right away. Whereas if you have a tag, most likely it's going to be appreciating over time. On average, over a long term, you're at about a 9% annual return.

[Zachary Crockett]

That 9% return figure is based on very limited data. After all, tight supply is what makes these things so highly valued in the first place. But that doesn't mean it's far off. Plate number 20, for instance, went for $5,000 in 1958. Sixty years later, it sold for $410,000, meaning its value grew by 7.6% per year. To be fair, you'd have done a little bit better in stocks. But for license plate collectors, all of this is beside the point.

[Aaron Dunphy]

Most people don't get rid of them unless there's no more family in the state and they don't really have anybody to give it to. So they're selling it because they're moving.

[Zachary Crockett]

Do you ever see plates end up in divorce settlements?

[Aaron Dunphy]

Yeah, I've been in the courtroom a few times. It happens quite a bit.

[Zachary Crockett]

Dunphy also says that low number license plates are one of the most hotly contested items in trusts and wills.

[Aaron Dunphy]

The license plate is probably one of the first things that they usually handle. A lot of times the siblings want the license plate, so it ends up having to almost go into an auction setup. They want to see what the market brings for the tag.

[Zachary Crockett]

This is something Vassallo has had to consider. Between playing rounds of golf in California and fishing for mahi mahi in the Bahamas, he has drawn up a careful plan for the afterlife of his license plate collection.

[Frank Vasallo III]

Hopefully it'll just stay in the family and go to my kids and grandkids, you know, for generations.

[Zachary Crockett]

For the economics of everyday things, I'm Zachary Crockett. This episode was produced by Sarah Lilly with help from Lyric Bowditch and mixed by Jeremy Johnston. You ever like pull up to someone at a stoplight and say, hey man, you want to sell your license plate?

[Aaron Dunphy]

I mean, like, if I see it on a car that's just in the parking lot or something, I might leave a card.

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