Got a 15-year-old car? Pay 8 times more to renew registration certificate from October

From this October, you may have to shell out Rs 5,000 for renewing the registration of your more than 15-year-old car, which is nearly eight times higher than what you pay now. Similarly, the charges for registration renewal of old bike would be Rs 1,000 compared to the current fee of Rs 300. Obtaining a fitness renewal certificate for a 15 year plus bus or truck would be Rs 12,500, which is nearly 21 times higher than what is paid now.

The road transport ministry has issued a draft notification proposing this hike, which is part of the overall plan to roll out the vehicle scrappage policy. According to the proposal, delay in renewing registration of private vehicles would attract Rs 300 to Rs 500 penalty per month while delay in renewal of fitness certificate for commercial vehicles would attract daily penalty of Rs 50.

As the government has started announcing new proposals to phase out old polluting vehicles, questions are being raised whether the government will approach the NGT and Supreme Court to review the ban on 10 and 15 year old diesel and petrol vehicles in Delhi and adjoining areas. “If the government is bringing a policy to phase out old polluting vehicles, it should be uniform for entire country,” said consumer activist Anil Sood.

In the case of private vehicles, owners need to get the RC renewed every five year after 15 years. Similarly, the fitness certificate renewal is mandatory every year once a commercial vehicle attains eight years. To create facilities for scrapping vehicles that fail to pass the fitness test, the ministry has come out with a draft norm for setting up of registered vehicle scrapping centres. As per the proposal, the vehicle owner will be free to take the old vehicle to any scrapping centre and he/ she can transfer the scrapping certificate to anyone to get any incentive for buying a new vehicle.