[malgudi]

Link to the Article in Mumbai Mirror
Love your old number plate? Now you may use it on your new car

Quote from the article:

In a first-of-its kind move in the country, state transport department is considering letting car owners use their old number plates when they buy a new vehicle

The Maharashtra Transport Department auctions or sells some of these premium numbers depending on their demand

If you have a premium car registration number or a number plate you consider lucky, you may now not have to part with it when you buy a new vehicle. In what could be the first-of-its-kind step in the country, the Maharashtra Transport Department is planning to introduce vehicle number portability, similar to the mobile number portability, which will be introduced in September.

Vehicle number portability

Vehicle registration number portability means you will be allowed to maintain the registration number of your car, even if you sell it or dispose of it as junk. The new car you buy can bear you the same old registration number. But it will come at a price, which the transport department is yet to finalise.

The new step will require amendments to the Motor Vehicles Rules. The draft for amendments is under consideration of a state legislature body. The new amendment will come into effect as soon as it clears it.

The new amendment is to benefit car owners who keenly seek number plates they consider lucky. In light of the demand, the RTO has successfully held auctions and sold premium vehicle registration numbers to car owners in the past.

Amendment will ease RTO’s workload

Transport officials said the amendment was being considered to also reduce the workload on RTO officials. “Whenever a vehicle is sold, the RTO has to cancel the vehicle’s registration in someone’s name and re-register it in another person’s name. The new system will reduce workload on the staff besides being convenient for people,” transport commissioner, Deepak Kapoor told Mumbai Mirror.

According to Kapoor, under the new amendment, if a person sells a car, he can retain the old registration number on his/her new car without any hassles. “But there will be certain fees attached to the process,” Kapoor warned.

The Transport Department has sought amendments to Section 54 (a) r/w and sub sections 2 and 3 of the Motor Vehicles Rules Act. “The draft is being examined by a legislature sub-committee,” Kapoor added.

Maharashtra has a vehicular population of nearly 1.5 crore, with two-wheelers constituting almost two-thirds of the number. On an average, nearly 12 lakh vehicles are added every year.

[madhav]

Interesting, I'd have loved to keep my previous car's reg number for my new ride.

But it does throw up loads of questions about the feasibility and the implementation. Could mean a lot of changes to the current system.

Does any one know if this is possible in any other country?

[Ricky_63]

Seems to be an interesting option, let us see if & when it is implemented.




Cheers

[arin_12]

Some interesting move from RTO. But I feel that here also RTO is smelling some money.
1. New car has to pay some premium money.
2. The old car need re-registration of no.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I have a car, say, a M800. I sell, and the buyer, wants to use it, obviously. The reg. no, just for example, will be MNO 420. I have paid life time tax on this car.

I get an Alto, and swap the old reg. No. to the new car. I obviously need to pay the life time tax on the new car.


The buyer needs to re-register the old car - the M800. It is only 3 years old. What happens to the road tax? (the old car is being registered afresh). Tax LAWS need to be changed, since as they are worded now, tax needs to be paid afresh at time of registration.

No longer possible to guess the registration date of a vehicle from the number plate. Right now, I can (and I guess most of you too can) guess the regitration date of a vehicle from its registration number.

[.anshuman]

It is already in effect since ages in Haryana.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

It is already in effect since ages in Haryana.

That is news, good news at that. Please could you elaborate and give more details of how the scheme works in India.

I would love to keep some of my numbers. In a way it makes sense for the plates to show the no. of the owner (already in effect with the Consular/Embassy/UN Plates). The tax etc. can be transferred to the new owner and the vehicle can show the new owners number instead. In a way this will reduce work and regn. numbers as the number of vehicles will always be more than the number of owners.

[anjan_c2007]

Thats fantastic news Malgudi.Thanks.We have borrowed many, many things from the west.No one thought of this- I mean policy makers in Maharashtra and other states where this is not in vogue.
Better now than never.

[abhibh]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

It is already in effect since ages in Haryana.

Add Chandigarh to that.

Though recently RTO over here passed a rule that you cannot retain the number.

[gpa]

Looks like a very interesting initiative. We'll just have to wait and see if it is actually implemented.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

It is already in effect since ages in Haryana.

Can you shed some light on this ?

[kannan666]

Originally Posted by beejay

Can you shed some light on this ?

+1 to that ! @ Anshuman, can you let us know how Haryana copes with the doubts raised by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR in this thread regarding the way taxes are handled / implemented by the RTO in Haryana ?

[geeash]

I dont think it is practically feasible in india. Lots of amendments needed if it is imposed......

[Sahil]

Hope this gets implemented soon ! On the downside, the premium car numbers will get costlier !

[GTO]

I sure would love to retain the same licence plate over newer cars. Let's hope this proposal sees the light of day.

That said, there are too many unanswered questions. And if history is anything to go by, RTO pockets will be the main beneficiary.

1. What will be the exact cost of transferring my existing plate to a new car?

2. Can it be transferred ONLY to a new car? What if I buy a used car?

3. Will the process of insurance and tax procedures for the new car be simple, considering that they'd (maybe) have the same registration number in their database?

4. What about the chap who bought my car and needs to get a new number for it? How simple will it be to update my sold cars papers for the buyer? Who bears the additional cost of the new licence plate? Buyer or seller?

5. Is it applicable across all classes of vehicles? What if I sell a hatchback and buy a 9 seater van?

This move will need very strict monitoring. Trust us to find workarounds, I won't be surprised if I ever come across two cars running the exact same number! Or using the same PUC certificate for the other car.

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

No longer possible to guess the registration date of a vehicle from the number plate. Right now, I can (and I guess most of you too can) guess the regitration date of a vehicle from its registration number.

You betcha.

Hope this gets implemented soon ! On the downside, the premium car numbers will get costlier !

On the contrary, I think new VIP number series will only get cheaper due to a decline in demand (previous VIP number transferred to new car, instead of applying for a fresh VIP number).