Pay eight times more for registration renewal of 15-year-old vehicles from April 2022

Come April 2022, vehicle owners will have to pay a significant eight times more fee for the renewal of their 15-year-old car. This will also be applicable to commercial heavy vehicle owners for the renewal of the fitness certificates for such trucks and buses.

The Road Transport and Highways Ministry issued a notification on Monday stating this would come into effect from 2022. The renewal registration of 15-year-old car will cost Rs 5,000 compared to the current Rs 600. The charges for registration renewal of old bikes would be Rs 1,000 compared to the current Rs 300. For a 15-year-old or more bus or truck, the owner will have to pay a fee of Rs 12,500 compared to the current rate of Rs 1,500.

Moreover, any delay in renewing the registration of private vehicles would attract a penalty of Rs 300 per month and Rs 500 for commercial vehicles, and commercial vehicles would have to pay a daily penalty of Rs 50. Owners of private vehicles need to get the registration renewed every five years after 15 years. And once a commercial vehicle attains 8 years, the fitness certificate renewal becomes mandatory every year.

The government’s aim through this new fee is to discourage people from keeping their old vehicles. The government also intends to do away with the manual system of fitness test, as this can be manipulated or rigged. This comes with the vehicle scrapping policy which was announced in the Union Budget on February 1 for 2021-22 which provides for fitness test after 20 years for personal vehicles, while commercial vehicles would require it after the completion of 15 years.

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Old vehicles are estimated to cause 10-12 times more pollution than the latest vehicles. As such, the government had earlier said it plans to impose green tax on old polluting vehicles in a bid to protect the environment and curb pollution, while vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and those running on alternative fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted.