Vintage cars registration process likely to be formalised soon

The Centre on Friday said it intends to formalise the registration process of the vintage motor vehicles, and has sought public comments for proposed rules regarding this.

In a statement, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said it has invited public comments for proposed rules on registering vintage vehicles.

"The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has published GSR 734 (E) dated November 25, 2020, seeking comments and suggestions in regards to amendment to CMVR 1989 relating to vintage motor vehicles," it said.

Through this notification, the ministry intends to formalise the registration process of the vintage motor vehicles.

"There are no existing rules for regulating the registration process of vehicles of heritage value. These rules are proposed to be inserted as sub-rules 81A, 81B, 81C, 81D, 81E, 81F, 81G in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989," it said.

The draft rules define vintage motor vehicles as all those vehicles that are two-wheelers and four-wheelers (non-commercial and personal use) and are more than 50 years old from the date of their first registration (including imported vehicle).

There is a restriction in the definition — no substantial overhaul of the vehicle which includes modification in chassis or body shell, and/or engine.

"It is proposed that all applications for registration shall be applied on 'PARIVAHAN' portal. It is further proposed that all states registering authority will appoint a nodal officer who will process all applications for registration of vintage motor vehicles," it said.

Further, states will form a committee that will inspect a vehicle and declare whether the vehicle is fit for registration under vintage motor vehicle or not.

"If approved, a 10-digit alphanumeric number will be assigned to the respective vintage vehicle. This registration shall be valid for 10 years," the statement said.

The format for the registration mark will be 'XX VA YY ****', where VA stands for vintage, XX will be the state code, YY will be a two-letter series and '****' is a number from 0001 to 9999 allotted by state registering authority, it added.

The fees for a new registration will be ₹20,000; while for subsequent re-registration, it will be ₹5,000.

If a vehicle is registered as a vintage motor vehicle, the sale and purchase of the vehicle is allowed under the rules, it said.

A vintage motor vehicle is allowed to run on Indian roads only for display, technical research or taking part in a vintage car rally, refuelling and maintenance, exhibitions, vintage rallies, and to and fro to such exhibition or car rally.

The government said the objective is to preserve and promote the heritage of old vehicles in India.