Sometimes, cars just aren’t enough of a statement. Private number plates have long been an easy way to personalise a car – but easy doesn’t necessarily mean cheap. While most private plates can be in the low hundreds, some have paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to flaunt their most prized digits. Here are just some of the most expensive number plates. It may come as a shock to you – but they’re actually not all rude puns, either.

K1 NGS – £250,000

Perhaps the perfect plate for Prince Harry, as he won’t get to wear the king’s bling himself. This plate was sold to a Saudi royal in the 1990s for the best part of £250,000. An imperious plate demands a imperious car, so we’d fix this to a Bentley Mulsanne. The long wheelbase version, naturally. After all, you wouldn’t be driving yourself.

FU 2 – £150,000

Buy this to turn your car into a two-wheeled two fingers. First owned, appropriately enough, by Soho porn baron Paul Raymond, it also spent time strapped to the front of a Mercedes S-Class owned by Hannah Smart, progeny of circus owner Billy. (Seems the family have a thing for blue plates – in the 1970s, her dad bought BS 1 for his purple Rolls Royce.) For a Merc that matches the plate’s attitude, a Maybach beats an S-Class. Being in the back seat is the best FU to the little people.

F 1 – £440,000

If almost half a million for a number plate seems steep, know that its owner, businessman Afzal Khan, turned down a £6m offer a few years later. Ideally, you’d attach it to an actual F1 car. But it seems a waste since they’re not road legal (and therefore don’t need a registration plate). Khan put his on a McLaren-Mercedes SLR which, while a lovely drive, misses the opportunity to attach F1 to a McLaren F1. Just think of the Instagram likes.

VIP 1 – £285,000

If you feel the need to tell folks you’re a VIP then the chances are you’re probably not. Even if the price tag hints that you’re not just behind the velvet rope, but own the entire nightclub. Roman Abramovich is, allegedly, the owner in question. But it was first registered for Pope John Paul II, when he visited the UK in 1979. You could attach it to a stretch limo then cruise Mayfair, but you’ll still never beat the Popemobile for Very Important points.