Recieved a tax notice for a car I sold 13 years ago: Now what?

My question to you is, what action should be taken here? Should we contact Maruti and ask them or directly go the RTO?

BHPian t_chat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I need some help from you. My father had exchanged his old Maruti 800 for a new Alto LXI in 2011 at a Maruti dealership in Kolkata. The dealership had taken all necessary documents and my father's signature and assured him of a smooth transfer process.

After 13 years of the aforementioned exchange, couple of days back, we have received a notice that vehicle tax has not been paid and that we need to pay it immediately. I checked Vahan website and was surprised to find that the old Maruti 800 is still registered under my father's name! This implies that the dealership did nothing to complete the owner name transfer in the RTO records. Also, the dealership doesn't exist now.

My question to you is, what action should be taken here? Should we contact Maruti and ask them or directly go the RTO? We naturally do not know to whom the car was sold to, hence at a fix what to do. Any support/information on this would be immensely helpful.

Here's what BHPian gischethans had to say on the matter:

Going to the RTO would be the right approach if you are in the same city. You can explain your position to the RTO and seek their advice. Likely, the car may not be plying on the roads anymore.

Does the car have valid insurance as per Vahan? If yes, contacting the insurer could be of some help. You can even go to the extent of cancelling the RC officially - let the current owner figure out how to reinstate it.

Here's what BHPian raj4466 had to say on the matter:

After 13 years, contacting Maruti won't be of much help. As advised check if the vehicle has a valid insurance to see if the vehicle is still in use.

If it does not, better contact RTO to get the RC cancelled.

Always check online if the ownership has changed when you sell a car, even if it is to a dealer.

Here's what BHPian n_ramesh99 had to say on the matter:

When you exchange a car, they normally give you a letter stating that henceforth they will be responsible for anything to do with the car. Did you receive one such letter? Do you have a copy of any transfer documents?

like @gischethans suggested, you can approach the RTO with the documents. Just walk in to the office and demand to talk to RTO or someone responsbile. They should be able let you know how to proceed. You can approach Maruti, but not sure how promptly they will attend to it. Shoot a mail anyway, no harm in it.

Here's what BHPian aadya had to say on the matter:

1. Maruti might not directly help you in this case, but, as a good will the dealer can check the service records to find out the car has been serviced in the recent past and try to get the details like phone number and if lucky the address of the current or the recent owner.

2. Try checking for traffic challans in vahan website, with little luck atleast the city of use might be available.

3. Give a police complaint explaining the situation with the proof of exchanging the car, this might help if there is any legal liability due to accident.

4. An official letter to RTO again to cover the legal angle might be handy later.

5. Little more detective work like finding out the documents of the erstwhile dealership would be possible with some effort.

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