Quote Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou View Post
Actually, it is an investment - you get your money back when you sell the bike. Probably much more than you paid for the plate.

The plate costs 20,000 rmb but you get the money back ... and perhaps much more.
I have tried to sell my BJ plated car in April 2011. The achievable price for the 2.0 TSI/DSG Magotan with all options, newly bought for 245k RMB in December 2009 was, due to the collapse of the used car market as a result of the silly luck draw system, down to 130-140k. I thought the plate could make up for the loss of value, but... As soon as a BJ plated car is sold, the registration (plates) is revoked and you have to queue for the lucky draw. Only if the old car / bike is scrapped or re-registered in another province, you can save your registration right.
A friend of mine in BJ owned a legal GS, bought a new legal GS and wasn't able to transfer the plate from the old to the new bike.

Today and to my very recent experience, the only ways to make profit from BJ plates are to sell the vehicle without registration change (but who would be so stupid) or to sell the plates and docs to the black market (I received offers).