[GTO]

Originally Posted by fiestarry

A few thousand rupees are suddenly a huge burden on a car / SUV buyer ? And this increase will bring the already struggling auto industry to its knees ? I don't know what the issue is really ?

Agreed with you in principle. But what such frequent bad news does is spoil the "market sentiment". People start perceiving car ownership in a more negative way. Every month or two, there is news of additional levies or penalties on car owners. Earlier this month, us Mumbaikars have had to brace ourselves for 10,000 rupee parking fines!

Except us BHPians, no one really celebrates car ownership anymore.

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Any idea how much the fitness test costs?

Not too expensive. IIRC, I paid 5k as registration charges in 2017 (for 5 years) and some 5k for environmental tax. Net cost of 2000 / year.

It will be a pain to get 2 fitness tests done in a year for vehicles which are older than 15 years of age.

Note: This is only for commercial vehicles, not private. Being how poorly maintained 15+ year old commercial vehicles are, I fully agree with this rule, as long as the health checks are done properly.

[ajmat]

Frankly the high re-registraton fees will weeds out the crappy cars, if it is a well preserved classic car, the owner will be willing to pay this amount.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Frankly the high re-registraton fees will weeds out the crappy cars, if it is a well preserved classic car, the owner will be willing to pay this amount.

But it has caused a bit of a stir among those (me included) who were planning to hold on to their old car only for a year or so.
Not because the prices are hiked, but the fact that it has risen by 2400% altogether

[saket77]

My views:

1. The hike is very steep. It is burdening on average income vehicle owners. Anyone who holds their vehicle for 15 years or more, mostly fall into this average income bracket.

2. And what if I don't re-register my car after 15 years? Of course I need to scrap it; but where? I don't know of any car scrapping facility in my city or even the state. So, what does the Govt. plan to do when thousands of vehicles are scrapped every month? Are they okay with this environmental waste and further hazard?

3. And then the plight of BHPians and other car lovers: I wouldn't mind scrapping a car which is on the verge of giving up or has been badly maintained. Those who take good care of their cars like most of us, why do we have to pay the penalty for this?

Rather than hiking this fee to this extent, my suggestion is to make the fitness tests more stringent. Why should I scrap my BSIII or even BSII car if it runs and performs exactly the way it should? Will this not lead to huge waste of resources which went into building this car? So, if any one is reading this, I would urge the authorities to come up with more creative solutions rather than handling everything on the premise built over money, fines, and profitability. After all, these are same people who buy the cars giving the much needed stimulus to the auto industry. If the Govt plans to levy such penalties, I would rather prefer an Ola or Uber doing away with car ownership altogether. They are convenient and much cheaper than maintaining and paying for ever increasing insurance premiums & parking fees for our owned cars.

And then we will have more threads like this:https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...rs-houses.html (The Cheapest Generation - Why Millennials aren’t buying cars or houses)

[rovingeye]

Yup. Cars are the new cigarettes. Tax them till people stop smoking err. driving.

[blackasta]

Classic case of putting the cart before the horse.
No infrastructure for electric cars whatever to speak of, 99.99% people never even have heard of car scrapping facilities, and they go ahead and put in a grandiose plan of increasing the tax burden on people & 'promote' buying electric car / new cars !

[Asish_VK]

The increase in re registration fees looks steep.

But consider this, Last revision of the fees was around late eighties (correct me if I am wrong). If government had increased it periodically (yearly or once in two years), the new fee might not have felt too steep IMHO.

[NiInJa]

While it is ok to justify increase in registration charges as I can see the base charges are a bit low in today's times, its a little baffling why it has to be a good 5000 Rupees for a new car or a three wheeler.

If I were a guy who wanted to start driving rickshaw with meager means, this additional 5000 rupees would surely be a pain to buy one, I could save that money for CNG or diesel. Same is the case for a small car like Alto.

And the argument that government wants to encourage electric vehicles by increasing taxes and charges on IC Engines is laughable. Its not like we have reached a point where all things are sorted out for EVs. Looks like the opposition has some good points to fight it out in the parliament !

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by fiestarry

A few thousand rupees are suddenly a huge burden on a car / SUV buyer ? And this increase will bring the already struggling auto industry to its knees ? I don't know what the issue is really ?

It's not a few thousand rupees but the cascading effect of the "graft" element that pervades the system that will have a telling effect on demand. I hope you know the "take home" of an RTO per day, you'd be astonished; they'll grab this chance and increase the "grease" amount by many times!

[ZenMaster]

I see some users saying they'll choose Uber/Ola instead of owning a car.
I'm pretty sure the Govt. has its eye on such services too.
I'm pretty sure the finance ministry can cook up some form of tax or surcharge or whatever for online services.

The only thing exempt from the claws of the govt. Is probably the humble bicycle.
According to me, that's the best solution. No need for electric infrastructure, not pollution, no need for fuel and the only Fitness you need to be sure of is your own.

[wanderhermit]

I think the government policy has certain flaws:

1. The timing is bit pre-mature. Unless alternative ev cars models are available, the tax should not be increased. Also, new cars should be charged more if they are gasoline. This is because two reasons. Olders cars have already paid their taxes. Plus, there was no sin in buying these cause their was no ev alternative when these cars were purchased. Also lofe of a car depends on condition and number of km they have run. So both should be considered.

Once ev counterparts are available, and adequate electric infrastructure is in place, government can i crease the taxes and levies. But not at this stage. In fact, small cars should be incentivised. In all categories.

In fact, cars as medium of transport should be recognised as long as they are small. Something like Japan, where you can tax big cars, by a huge margin.

Unless, decent and newer transportation models are adopted, categorising all cars as luxury, irrespective of their size is pretty harsh.

[kotirajendra]

This is way to get back the tax exempted to the middle class.

[Hayek]

Am surprised that people are worried about a ₹5000 registration charge - as a percentage of even an Alto’s price, it is barely 2%.

Agree the renewal charge of ₹10000 after 15 years is high - but that is better than forcible scrapping of old cars - which could very well come in at some point in time.

However, I do wonder why cars are taxed under so many heads - GST (28%), Surcharge (25%), Registration, One Time Tax (22%), Customs etc. It would make a lot more sense to have a single tax - with appropriate sharing between the centre and states.

[ramzsys]

An old BS2, BS3 vehicle on road, even if maintained well and emits well within-the stipulated limits, still pollute the environment a lot more than a BS6.

This can be considered an indirect stimulus to the auto industry.

[landcruiser123]

I personally find these hikes too much. A person buying a new car might not be affected too much, but I know a friend who owns a 17 year old Zen (in excellent condition) which he probably drives about 300 km a month on weekends. He can't switch to Uber/Ola as he needs the flexibility of a car as he takes his parents around. Re-registration at 15k for a car worth 50k? Is the government mad? I'd be happy if they did it for old commercial vehicles and not private vehicles.

Originally Posted by fiestarry

I don't see this move as a problem at all. The Govt is generating a bit of revenue from the automobile buyers.....

I think they're on the path to cut the goose which is laying the golden egg.

Originally Posted by Asish_VK

But consider this, Last revision of the fees was around late eighties

Why was the government sleeping all these years?

Originally Posted by ZenMaster

I see some users saying they'll choose Uber/Ola instead of owning a car.
....Is probably the humble bicycle.

Trust me, with the current driving discipline and infrastructure, the bicycle is not sustainable.

Originally Posted by ramzsys

An old BS2, BS3 vehicle on road, even if maintained well and emits well within-the stipulated limits, still pollute the environment a lot more than a BS6.

Consider my example on the top of the page- I know a friend who owns a 17 year old Zen (in excellent condition) which he probably drives about 300 km a month on weekends...

Do you think he'd like to spend 6 lakhs on a new car? Do you think his carbon footprint is more than the footprint of producing a new car? Why does the government want people to force people to change? I'd be happy if they kept the fees reasonable for low-mileage vehicles.