[Smashd]

Originally Posted by turbospooler

This seems like a local issue as many others like me took delivery of their 8 seater variant with private vehicle registration. I took mine in March 2023 in Pune.



There doesn't seem to be an issue in Maharashtra. Check with your dealership for clarification.

Originally Posted by manofinfinity

What! Can anyone please elaborate more on this, From when registration for 8-Seaters have been kept on hold?

This issue has been reported on the parivahan site and as i understand the problem surfaced from last week i.e. 22/may. The parivahan site is not allowing registration of 8-seater on individual name. As per dealer Toyota has been pulled into it and is taking it up with parivahan ministry. This makes me feel it is a country wide problem. Can you check with your respective SA about the veracity of this claim.

[Smashd]

Originally Posted by Smashd

This issue has been reported on the parivahan site and as i understand the problem surfaced from last week i.e. 22/may. The parivahan site is not allowing registration of 8-seater on individual name. As per dealer Toyota has been pulled into it and is taking it up with parivahan ministry. This makes me feel it is a country wide problem. Can you check with your respective SA about the veracity of this claim.

Further on this thread. Parivahan website has stopped the registration of 8-seater as a motor car. The changes have been done in the NIC database. The registrations have started now and the vehicle category has been changed to “Omnibus”. As per MORTH guidelines Omnibus category falls under Transport category, which requires the vehicle to have an annual fitness certification.

Has anyone got their 8-seater hycross/crysta registered for individual ownership since 15-May. Could you please share the vehicle category mentioned for the vehicle on the RC, when was it registered and in which state.

[manofinfinity]

Originally Posted by Smashd

Further on this thread. Parivahan website has stopped the registration of 8-seater as a motor car. The changes have been done in the NIC database. The registrations have started now and the vehicle category has been changed to “Omnibus”. As per MORTH guidelines Omnibus category falls under Transport category, which requires the vehicle to have an annual fitness certification.

Has anyone got their 8-seater hycross/crysta registered for individual ownership since 15-May. Could you please share the vehicle category mentioned for the vehicle on the RC, when was it registered and in which state.

My Hycross vx 8 seater was registered in April and it is categorised as LMV-Light motor vehicle, It is registered in D&NH

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Smashd

The parivahan site is not allowing registration of 8-seater on individual name.

Thanks for sharing, Smashd! Moving your post out to a new thread so as to update others. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google. Will add to our news section .

As I understand it, the two Innovas are the only 8-seater private cars in India, right?

@ BHPians, if you should spot any good post in an existing thread that deserves its own new thread, please report the post and we'll move it out for greater visibility.

Thank you!

[Axe77]

Does anyone have insight into what has triggered this. Has some specific rule changed or is this a re-interpretation of some existing rule.

I can think of a bunch of silly consequences, apart from the obvious one of being unable to purchase one.

# Firstly, if these were homologated to be sold as passenger vehicles, how can RTO turn around and refuse registration now.

# In case this is fait accompli, would Toyota now have to re-homologate the same bench version as a 7 seater (by presenting the last row as a 2 seater)? If that's the case, I expect it'll have to forego the middle seat belt in the last row (I'm assuming it has 3 in the last row if its sold as an 8 seater).

# Would it attract speed limit restrictions applicable to passenger cars or heavy vehicles. I'm assuming passenger cars since cams can't distinguish whether an Innova is a 7 / 8 seater.

# I think there is a Carnival variant also that is sold as a 8 seater - I imagine that would also attract similar issues if that variant is still on sale?

Waiting to hear back on my opening line before forming a firm view, but on the face of it this seems like yet another banana republic administrative move that misses the wood for the trees.

[CEF_Beasts]

The funny aspect is 99% Yellow plate Innovas are 7 seaters with bucket seats and not 8 seaters with the bench seat !!

The rule should be tweaked to 9 seater and above classified as omnibus.

Originally Posted by Axe77

# I think there is a Carnival variant also that is sold as a 8 seater - I imagine that would also attract similar issues if that variant is still on sale?

The current gen Carnival in India used to offer 7, 8 and 9 seater variants. The 8 and 9 seater variants were discontinued some time back, so it’ll not be affected by this new rule.

[blackwasp]

Weirdly, all this while cabbies had to resort to registering as 7 seaters as they couldn’t get 8 seater atleast in a lot of states.

Further, with this new Omnibus category, I hope 8 seater vehicles as not classified as a bus! That would mean cabbies further shunning the 8 seater cars.

[Hemi6.2]

If Toyota renames it as "7+1" or "5+3" configuration then that could maybe help to circumvent this issue.

[JediKnight]

Originally Posted by Smashd

Further on this thread. Parivahan website has stopped the registration of 8-seater as a motor car. The changes have been done in the NIC database. The registrations have started now and the vehicle category has been changed to “Omnibus”. As per MORTH guidelines Omnibus category falls under Transport category, which requires the vehicle to have an annual fitness certification.

Has anyone got their 8-seater hycross/crysta registered for individual ownership since 15-May. Could you please share the vehicle category mentioned for the vehicle on the RC, when was it registered and in which state.

In Hyderabad 8 seater private vehicles have been registered as "Omnibus for private use" for some time now including my 8 seater Marazzo which was registered in 2020. "Omnibus for private use" category is like a normal private car with 15 year validity.

[Wanderers]

This is not the first time. Back in 1998, Maruti introduced 8 seater van and it was treated as commercial but allowed private number same way as we can do for any private tempo traveler or Bus. The catch was the road tax is to paid yearly and fitness to be checked every two/five years (varied from state to state)

But there was some good things associated with it as well. It was subjected to lower sale tax (not a luxury you know) and a 2 lakhs Maruti van costed Rs 8000 less for 8 seater version and we fell prey to this price and suffered every year as road tax kept multiplying and not to forget the "tape" tax (music system) thankfully there was no AC, otherwise same would have been also added.

[landcruiser123]

^^^Seconded.
My dad had some trouble in getting our 2007 Innova V (8-seater) registered in his name. I don't know what strings the dealer pulled, but we got it done. Last I checked, RC mentioned the car as an Omnibus.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Does anyone have insight into what has triggered this.

Originally Posted by Wanderers

This is not the first time. Back in 1998, Maruti introduced 8 seater van and it was treated as commercial but allowed private number same way as we can do for any private tempo traveler or Bus.

Correct, I remember, our Qualis -8/9 seater had similar Yearly tax payment. Though the number was private. I don't recollect the category under which it was registered though. But Toyota can easily come out of this by using classification of last seats as 2 seater. It can't be a 3 seater at first place, It's purely a marketing gimmick, very difficult to squeeze 3 adults.

[riteshritesh]

When we bought our 8 Seater Innova ( this must be atleast 10-12 years ago), we had an issue getting it registered in company name, as it would then be a tourist vehicle with yellow number plate and payment of yearly tax+fitness. We then had to register it in my personal name. This was MH01.
If one can buy a rickshaw and register it for personal use, what is the issue in personal registration for a 8 seater or the Force Toofan 13-14 seaters? If it is only a Category issue ( with change in Tax rate) then it is okay, but disallowing personal registration for large seaters is silly.

[Carpainter]

Our Innova 8 seater was registered as Omni Bus (private use) in 2015 and I believe that was the norm until today. Don't know what prompted them to change it. May be Toyota will discontinue 8 seater variant if this is not resolved. No one would want to go for C/F every year or every 3 years like a commercial vehicle.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by Smashd

Parivahan website has stopped the registration of 8-seater as a motor car. The changes have been done in the NIC database. The registrations have started now and the vehicle category has been changed to “Omnibus”. As per MORTH guidelines Omnibus category falls under Transport category, which requires the vehicle to have an annual fitness certification.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Does anyone have insight into what has triggered this. Has some specific rule changed or is this a re-interpretation of some existing rule.

I can think of a bunch of silly consequences, apart from the obvious one of being unable to purchase one.

# Firstly, if these were homologated to be sold as passenger vehicles, how can RTO turn around and refuse registration now.

but on the face of it this seems like yet another banana republic administrative move that misses the wood for the trees.

From what I have seen, any such change by MoRTH has never been instantaneous. Usually there are consultations and ample lead-time with a draft notification and then a final notification. Type approval of vehicles strictly follow such rules.

So, either there is a classification system configuration glitch and 8-seater Innova etc. got caught in that OR Toyota missed the regulation change (highly unlikely).

Moreover, I tried to search for any notification in this regard, but nothing came up. So, seems more like a glitch.