[GTO]

The cops have started confiscating red-plate media cars used by reviewers for test-drives. Already heard of several stories where cars from multiple OEMs have been pulled over by the police. If it was a journalist behind the wheel, the car is confiscated on the spot.

The RTO's problem = Red plate cars are only for temporary use by the dealer, and that too primarily for transportation from the stockyard to the dealership. Why is the manufacturer not paying road tax? They are also checking the odometer and if it runs into the thousands of km (common with media cars), they are confiscated. In fact, manufacturers frequently keep their media cars on red plates for 2 years or so. By definition, a red plate is only for temporary use, so clearly, a system was being abused. OEMs are now so scared that an upcoming scheduled test-drive event has been moved from Bombay to Pune!

As harsh as it might be, I agree with this rule. Why are car manufacturers not properly registering cars that are used for a business purpose? I hope this becomes a nationwide drive by the police & stops the practice immediately. OEMs spend 5 - 10 crores on hosting media test-drive events and are used to capex of thousands of crores. What is a couple of lakhs to register your fleet of 10 - 20 test-drive vehicles?

Am also wondering how this affects dealer test-drive vehicles used by customers for short TDs.

As someone who drives media test-drive cars often, I sure hope they now come with proper registration & full comprehensive insurance (some of them carry just the bare minimum 3rd party coverage). Even before this confiscation drive, it was a real hassle to drive cars with red plates. The police would frequently pull us over.

Related Thread (Behind the Scenes: How Press & Media Drives Work)

[Everlearner]

The problem in India is authorities will have sudden realisations on long standing issues and start knee jerk reactions rather than work on core underlying issues.

Instead of just pulling over cars, cops should work with RTO authorities to establish a proper framework on how to handle these issues.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by GTO

As harsh as it might be, I agree with this rule. Why are car manufacturers not properly registering cars that are used for a business purpose?

Fully agree. These unregistered cars also form a big pool of (potentially) abused cars often repaired by the OEM or through big dealers and sold off to naïve customers without full disclosure.

The quicker this loophole is closed, the better. We pay road tax from day one (or latest 30 days on TR), why not a massive OEM?

[iamahunter]

This is a good step for the customers, as these abused cars are currently repaired(if needed visually) and sold to unsuspecting customers at slight discounts and said to be as first owners. At times, dodgy dealers may reset the odometer and sell it as a new car. This is surely happening, if not in tier 1 then in the tier 2 or tier 3 cities.

However, with the companies and sales teams with target to save xx percentage will go to any lengths of creativity to save every single dime.

So, if this rule is implemented throughout I suspect that the media test-drives will be reduced or limited to a certain area. Like Bajaj offers the initial rides on their Chakan test track. OEMs might even book a certain test track/ private land parcel to offer the media drives. Inside the privately owned land, these cars can be driven by any, but the media won't be allowed to take the car outside or provide the "real-world" experience of the car.

There are many ways to get the media drive done, but expecting the OEM's to register the car for a media drive seems to be a over-expectation.

[condor]

Originally Posted by GTO

OEMs are now so scared that an upcoming scheduled test-drive event has been moved from Bombay to Pune!

If Mumbai police do this, will Pune police be sleeping ? I guess they will also follow suit.

Am also wondering how this affects dealer test-drive vehicles used by customers for short TDs.

The green Trade Certificate plates, may be ? I am not sure how these work w.r.t tax, but we have used an Aria for a weekend outside KA, provided by dealer here, many years back. We had been told that the plate was valid anywhere in the country - as far as we could travel during the weekend.


Good move by Mumbai police.

[100Kmphormore]

Fully agree. Will have the confidence to push the car to its performance limits knowing they have proper insurance in case of a touchup, damage etc (because the car wont get registered without it at all). Also will get rid of the menace of dealerships selling test drive cars to unsuspecting customers. For this very reason, there arent many test ride vehicles of top end/less selling variants. The Scorpio petrol automatic/XUV700 petrol manual is not available at all, despite the XUV being a year and over since launch.

[Newtown]

This is where a provision to have manufacturer plates is most needed. They can have a different set of rules for taxation & registration.

While what the authorities are doing is right, there is also a need to help manufacturers make their business easier to run.

[blackwasp]

Well, this is weird, because the very reason these Trade Certificates exist is for the the exact purpose of testing, reviewing or showing the car to a prospective buyer and so on.

Here is what the official website says (I've only copy pasted the relevant details):

Motor vehicle in the possession of the dealer shall be exempted from the necessity of the registration subject to the condition that he obtains a trade certificate from the registering authority.No holder of a trade certificate shall deliver a motor vehicle to a purchaser without registration, whether temporary or permanent. A trade certificate granted or renewed under rule 35 shall be in force for a period of twelve months from the date of issue or renewal there of shall be effective throughout India.

Further...

Purposes for which motor vehicle with trade certificate may be used -

• For test, by or on behalf of the holder of a trade certificate during the course of, or after completion of, construction or repair; or
  
• For a reasonable trail or demonstration by or for the benefit of a prospective purchaser and for proceeding to or returning from the place where such person intends to keeps it;

Originally Posted by itwasntme

The quicker this loophole is closed, the better. We pay road tax from day one (or latest 30 days on TR), why not a massive OEM?

If I may add sir, there are many instances when Trace Certificate is needed. For instance, in case of vehicles being showcased but not yet launched in the market, or taking it to and fro from Auto Expo.

RTO can ensure that these cars are not sold off to unsuspecting customers or any dealer tried to sell it off and so on. But most of the times, these car end up as Taxi inside the carmaker's plant. Or used for R&D and so on. Do you think the OEM is trying to save a quick buck by not registering? While cost is one factor, the other hassles too are there. A Trade Certificate can be used on different cars - e.g. say today model A is launched, and 6 months later model B is launched. In that case, the manufacturers would be able to reuse the same trade plate.

[PPS]

Quite a few times I've seen these Red plate cars speeding on the Sealink. I wonder how the fine/challan gets generated! In some other thread there are pics of different imports sporting the same Temp/Red plates.

[VPJ74]

Good to see the Mumbai Police being proactive about something. Now, if they could also tackle the 2-wheeler menace or am I being ridiculous here ..

[MaheshY1]

I'd say education is the problem. For instance, helmet is necessary on a 2-wheeler and not wearing one deserves the stick because local law enforcement have already spent enough on carrots to educate the citizens.

It seems like they know that the manufacturers are the culprit if they're bypassing the system. In this case, instead of confiscating the vehicles, sending notifications to manufacturers, listening to their side of the story, and giving them time to abide by sounds like a fair practice. RTO using the stick as soon as they realize that someone found a loophole will never build trust between the 2 parties.

[Jaggu]

Make the system transparent, simple and flexible to use and compliance will automatically follow. Currently it is so complicated and as per each state RTO wishes it to be, that has to go first. A new model will not even have the details updated on these RTO "system" that no one can even register even if they wishes to on time. I remember when I picked the 390 Adv, Bangalore RTO made the dealer run around in circle (for obvious reasons ) before the system was updated for the new bike.

One nation, one rule, one tax... that is the actual need of the hour.

[Maky]

What about 'demo' cars? which are used by us for test-drives when evaluating a vehicle for purchase?
They also run red plates and then also sell them off later(time also being pre-determined by manufacturer) where one of the USPs presented to the buyer is that they will be the 'first' owner : )

[StrangeWizard]

I drive media cars almost everyday and many manufacturers use red plates on their cars. Some automakers also put white plates with TC numbers on their cars

I agree with GTO that it wouldn't cost automakers a lot of money to register their fleet of 20-odd media cars. Depends from company to company though, some automakers have a fleet of less than 10 media cars across India while some have 30-40 cars. I think most mass-market automakers have fully registered cars in their fleet barring a few. There are a couple of luxury car makers who use TC numbers (some of them use red plates, some use white plates with black fonts, some use red fonts on white plates too).

But, a lot of times it makes sense for them to use TC numbers especially when cars would be on the road for short durations or when they would be transported from one city to another for display events like the Auto Expo or customer showcase events or even media drives. In such cases, red plates are fine as they can be transferred from one car to another easily. It costs around Rs. 3000/- to get a TC number with a 1 year validity and you can use it on any car.

Running cars for 1-2 years on red plates is a strict no-no though. I have seen cars that have done in excess of 10,000 kms on TC plates. Many companies then sell off these cars as demo units and many of the cars are also sent back to their respective plants for R&D purposes or given to company employees, so yes it really differs from company to company but all of them have taken notice of the confiscation thing so we can expect more cars to be registered now.

Can someone tell me what's the difference between TCL and TCF? I believe TC plates don't get challans. Another hassle of TC numbers is that you have to fill up Form 19 every time you drive the car.

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

The problem in India is authorities will have sudden realisations on long standing issues and start knee jerk reactions rather than work on core underlying issues.

Instead of just pulling over cars, cops should work with RTO authorities to establish a proper framework on how to handle these issues.

When you commit an offence, you cant plead ignorance as an excuse. If something was being allowed in contravention, it cant be termed right.

Did the manufacturer's know this was an issue ? If they knew they were just waiting for authorities to react which was done here. They thought reaction would be a request for them to mend. Its on the manufacturers to ask for a different framework.