[CretaKumar]

I was recently looking for an old Mahindra thar on Facebook marketplace and I came across this super mod Thar.
I went through the pictures and found out the RC of the car on th post and thats when I really got puzzled about whats happening here.
Car was purchased in 2005. It complies with BS1 Emission norms.
However on the RC it says it was registered in year 2020 and is valid upto 2035. I checked RTO information online and the dates on RC matches with RTO database.
AFAIK in india, once the car completes its 15 years it can be registered again for 5 more years but here something strange is happening.
I have seen similar case with a pre-owned Endeavour but in that scenario, car was bought in 2012 but registered in 2015.

Is this a scam? Are these RCs legit?
See photo of RC below

[ObsessedByFIAT]

My thoughts: is it possible that the Jeep is a army/defence/govt disposable vehicle, in which case, it would have to be registered. This can possibly explain why the registration is valid till 2035.

As for the Endeavour, it might just be a case that the owner did not register it for two years. I know of a few cases in my own extended family where the car/bike wasn't registered for a long time to have that "new vehicle" feel. I know it's plain stupid.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by CretaKumar

Car was purchased in 2005. It complies with BS1 Emission norms.
However on the RC it says it was registered in year 2020 and is valid upto 2035.

This is not a scam. Military vehicles once auctioned, have to be registered at the local RTO and these fresh registrations are valid for 15 years. Maybe a loophole, but definitely no scam.

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

My thoughts: is it possible that the Jeep is a army/defence/govt disposable vehicle

Government disposal vehicles carry the same registration number as they previously had and cannot be registered fresh for 15 years.

[CretaKumar]

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

My thoughts: is it possible that the Jeep is a army/defence/govt disposable vehicle, in which case, it would have to be registered. This can possibly explain why the registration is valid till 2035..

I was under the impression that after a new emission laws are released, Older BS version vehicles can't be registered.
For example after BS6 was released BS4 and below vehicles were not registered by RTO after April 2023.
Similar case I remember in 2015-16 when two wheelers were forcibly moved from bs3 to bs4 and bs3 vehicles were sold at upto 50% discount because after a cutoff date RTO said they will not register the bs3 vehicles.
Now if that is how it works, then how come a BS1 vehicle was registered in May 2020?

[Mohitkumaar]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

Government disposal vehicles carry the same registration number as they previously had and cannot be registered fresh for 15 years.

Yes vehicles which carry military number plates, they shed their arrow number once they are disposed in civil market. Cant have your average person running a vehicle with arrow numbers...

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

Government disposal vehicles carry the same registration number as they previously had and cannot be registered fresh for 15 years.

Not aware of other places, but in Chandigarh, all Government vehicles have different series. It's something like - CH01-G-0123

Maybe other places too, have a specific series, and the numbers are retained. But Yes, the RC will still be valid per original validity. Army or Consulate vehicles which were never registered on regular plates will get new RC and looks its 15 Years from the date of such registration.

This loophole may get noticed and plugged as the Government does not need such polluting vehicles on the road, irrespective of the little money it brings.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

This is not a scam. Military vehicles once auctioned, have to be registered at the local RTO and these fresh registrations are valid for 15 years. Maybe a loophole, but definitely no scam.
.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

This loophole may get noticed and plugged as the Government does not need such polluting vehicles on the road, irrespective of the little money it brings.

Could be more a loophole than scam. Recently, the govt issued a clarification that a military disposal vehicle must be registered such that the manufacture date to be used as a reference. Ex: A 2013 Army Gypsy being re-registered in 2023 as a civilian Gypsy would get a FC only upto 2028, and not upto 2038. Doing a fresh 15 year FC was not the way to do it.

The rules for 15 year life were always there. This was not applied to army disposal vehicles possibly because most of registrations were through agents with whom the restoration shops had a tie up with.

But where would one draw the line between loop-hole and a scam in this situation ?

[vharihar]

Folks, need some advise:

Bangalore RTO has apparently blocked my 2017 Tucson’s registration 4-5 months ago (which I learned last month when root-causing why BookMyHSRP wasn’t going through for my car). I learned from the RTO that this is bcoz the car's invoice price from my Hyundai dealer said 18.5L (on which the tax was paid when the dealer did the RTO paperwork back in 2017) whereas the IDV in the insurance is 20.5L.

The reason why this likely happened is because I recall I had declined the dealer-offered insurance and had purchased insurance on my own, because the dealer’s insurance premium was way too high. How the IDV figure of 20.5L was arrived I don’t recall. It all happened 6 years, who can recall now? Maybe it was the default amount, or maybe I upp'ed it thinking it to increase my coverage protection, who knows.

The RTO in an audit in early 2023 discovered this and decided to flag it and block my registration! Yesterday when I visited the RTO, I was told that the tax is supposed to be paid on the higher of the dealer invoice value and IDV. Hence they conclude that I need to pay additional tax on 2L amount or so, which worked out to 33K, and they somehow calculated a penalty of 24K on it (since the tax deficit has apparently been there since past 6 years), taking the total to about 58K. The RTO audit person calculated the 58K (it was all done very flippantly), the RTO staff next to the superintendent filled (scribbled, actually) a Form 14 based on that amount, and told me to prepare a DD and pay it in the cash counter, furnish him a copy of the receipt and give a letter to remove the "block".

I find this terribly unfair! I have paid tax on the dealer invoice amount and I have the receipt for it. Why should insurance IDV have anything to do with it?!? When I argued briefly thus with the RTO staffer, he said (somewhat rudely, I may add) that he just needs to follow the rules. Anyway, I can kinda see where he's coming from, so can't fault him too much there.

What are my options? I work nowadays in Noida and it is difficult for me to engage in a prolonged dispute, especially one with uncertain outcome. So one part of me says to pay the 58K and get done with it. Another part says that who is to say that paying it may not solve it fully and they may again rag me, asking for, say, a bribe to get the "block" removed on my registration after having paid the 58K?

Any advice?

[condor]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Any advice?

Check the discussion here:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...penalties.html (Akshaya Motors pays road tax on discounted rate for C-Class | RTO demands tax difference & penalties)

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by condor

Check the discussion here:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...penalties.html (Akshaya Motors pays road tax on discounted rate for C-Class | RTO demands tax difference & penalties)

Thanks, saw that. Though mine is not a case of under-invoicing. It is simply a case where I declined the dealer-offered insurance and purchased it on my own from PolicyBazaar, which has a pre-filled IDV and let's you change it. I have all the docs to prove this.

It's frustrating why this doesn't have a fair resolution process. It's like, "you have to go with whatever the RTO suspects to have happened, even if that didn't happen and is proveable as such".

[PaddleShifter]

@vharihar:

Back in 1998, I was standing in a queue with my father who was registering his LML Vespa at the Chandigarh RTO. I heard him someone (standing in queue with us) telling him that Estate office and RTO have the most crooked people. Years later, I experienced this myself in a Haryana RTO.

Did you get any discount on the car during the pruchase? Was 18.5 lacs the original invoice amount? Generally, dealers clearly mention discounts on the ex-showroom price during the invoice process.

Considering the fact that car is an essential means of transport, do not spend too much time while the car registration is blocked. First, submit an application proving that 18.5 was the actual ex-showroom price without any discounts & that 20.5 IDV was a mistake because of which you have already paid more for insurance. Request them in the application not to put you at a loss twice by putting this burden over and above the ex-showroom price.


What I believe is that the insensitive agents will not apply any logic and ask you to pay up the balance with panelty based on the rule book. If that happens, pay up the amount and get your plates unblocked.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Any advice?

Your best bet is to try with some agent asking him to negotiate the rate amd fine. Of course, you will have to pay him his charges which will include some bribe.