The district is witnessing a rise in renewal of vehicle registration in the post-Covid period when compared to the pre-Covid time.
Most owners prefer to retain their vehicles, which are over 15 years old, instead of buying a new one. Registration of 6,775 vehicles were renewed in 2022 so far against 4,664 in 2019 in Ernakulam.
Stakeholders in the sector attribute shifting to private vehicles more in the post-Covid period, rising price of new vehicles and shortage of new vehicles launching in the market, as the reasons.
As per law, a registration certificate for non-transport vehicles is valid for 15 years from the date of issue. For transport vehicles, it is valid for eight years.
The renewal of registration of vehicles was around 4,000 before the pandemic struck in 2020. But it skyrocketed to 7,000 in 2021 as many owners could not renew the registration in 2020 due to Covid restrictions, said an MVD official.
The data shows that most of the renewal is happening at the end of each quarter of the year. Most of the renewal of registration of private vehicles happening now are the ones bought in 2007, said an official in Ernakulam RTO office.
As per the central government policy, private vehicles which are over 20 years old will be de-registered and to be scrapped, if it fails in an automated fitness test. The deregistration will start from June 2024.
According to Kerala Automobile Dealers’ Association (KADA), though the sector is upbeat this year when compared to 2021, people owning new vehicles have not touched like the pre-Pandemic period.
“The used vehicle industry is still in boom. The price of new vehicles is going to increase from January next year. With the new version of Bharat stage six emission norms coming into effect from April 2023, the purchase of vehicles will be costlier,” said KADA office-bearer Manoj Kurup.
Despite the rise in renewal of registration, authorities have not taken any steps to study its impact on the environment.
Meanwhile, the renewal of registration revenue has skyrocketed to Rs 1.68 crore this year so far in Ernakulam RTO limit while it was Rs 35.87 lakh in 2021. Revenue from green tax also increased compared to previous years.
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The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said registrations in November stood at 142,889 units, nearly 9% below pre-pandemic levels.