Bike plates, yellow HU A's are no longer produced... in other words there are no NEW plates... What ever is out there is out there and when someone sells their plate then you can buy that plates and it is renewed under the new name and the plate is then good as NEW. It is not good for 11 years. This happens quite often, It usually takes about 1-2 months to find and complete the transfer (although some have done it quicker). Most dealers use a "fixer" to arrange the plates on their behalf so some money goes to this service and that understandable. Bigger dealers like Harley have people in their organization to do this for the customers, but smaller dealers use outside help.... either way the plates are expensive. Cars have new plates coming every month and so you see a flux in price and as stated earlier last month it was only 10,000 rmb for a CAR, but bikes did not change unless we are talking up in price. 4 years ago they were only 25-30,000 and not they are 46,000. The plates are bought and sold quite easily and often you will make money on the sale of the plate so the price is negligible. If you want to be legal its the only way....

To get an "A" plates you must have a central Hukou (from a district within the Inner and something Middle ring) However I have customers and friends who have used other Shanghai district and still been able to buy the coveted HU A (not sure the process).

The sudden drop in the price is due to the fact that 2 months ago plates sales where very low and so the market price this month plumeted and will now steeply climb up as we approach the Chinese new year.... Nothing say happy new year then a new car. I bought a plate for 12,000 rmb and I now have three months to buy new car to put it on... then wait and sell my old car and plate at the usual rate