Having old vehicles can now be expensive affair

Having old vehicles can now be expensive affair

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:03.02.2021

Holding on to 15-year-old vehicles will become an expensive affair once the voluntary vehicle scrapping policy is rolled out from next year. While the cost for getting a fitness certificate for such commercial vehicles will go up by up to 62 times, the fee for renewal of registration of private vehicles will increase by up to eight times. Moreover, states will impose green tax over and above the road tax that every vehicle owner needs to pay.

The road transport and highways ministry will announce the scrapping policy in the next two weeks. Sources said the fitness certificate fee for commercial vehicles that are more than 15 years would increase from the current Rs 200 to approximately Rs 7,500 for cabs and nearly Rs 12,500 for trucks. As per the motor vehicle law, renewal of fitness certificate is mandatory annually once it’s more than eight years old. “These hiked fees will kick in once such vehicles are of 15 years. Paying such a high charge every year will discourage people to keep their old vehicles,” said a source. On top of this, states can levy a green tax, which can be 10-25% of the annual road tax. This will be in addition to the normal road tax a vehicle owner pays.

Similarly, in the case of 15-year plus private vehicles, the registration charge would go up for two-wheelers from the current Rs 300 to Rs 1,000 and it would increase from ₹600 to ₹5,000 for cars. The states can levy green tax on such vehicles for five years, which would be in addition to the road tax. “All private vehicles need to renew registration after 15 years and subsequently every five year. This is expected to work as a disincentive for vehicle owners,” the source said. In both the cases, vehicles failing in the automatic fitness test will be deregistered from Vahan, the central database of vehicles.