The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has come out with a draft notification for enthusiasts and collectors of vintage cars, classic vehicles of more than 50 years of age on the registration of vintage cars.
According to the notification, vehicles having 50 years of age from the date of first registration, including any imports will be classified as the vintage vehicle and will also enjoy an exemption from scrappage.
In order to differentiate vintage cars from the rest, such cars will have letters ‘VA’ on the number plate that signifies vintage. According to vehicles order, 2019 such vehicles will display high-security registration plates bearing a registration mark consisting of the letters “XXVAYY” where VA stands for vintage, XX stands for state code and YY will be a two letter series followed by a number from 01 to 09 as allotted by the state registering authority.
The move is being welcomed and is being seen as aimed at helping collectors of such vehicles to avoid harassments from enforcement agencies. According to the government, it is expedient to provide for the preservation of vintage vehicles owing to their historic, cultural, technical and aesthetic significance.
The notification further states that this special registration will allow the vehicle to run on public roads under a wider variety of circumstances, except commercial use. First, there was an allowance for vintage cars which participate in vintage car rallies to operate without registration.
Earlier, there was no formal procedure or clarity for registration of old vintage cars but the new proposed policy anticipates that a one-time fee of Rs 20,000 will be deposited with the state transport authorities at the time of registration, which will be valid for 10 years and can be renewed thereafter.
The topic about the need for regulation was discussed at the 55th meeting of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules-Technical Standing Committee (CMVR-TSC) and was highlighted time and again including by various federations.
The road transport ministry is open for any suggestion on the proposed regulation and has sought comments from the public on the proposed draft order within 30 days.
To make the registration of vintage car an easy process centre has proposed to form a Vintage Motor Vehicles State Committee at the state level for administering the process of providing registration to the vintage cars.