Centre issues new rules for vintage vehicles

In a draft notification dated July 15, the government has issued new guidelines for vintage vehicles in the country. This notification follows the announcement made by the centre in November last year regarding the new registration rules and format for vintage and classic cars that are over 50 years old.

• Vintage vehicles may get a new registration format
• The issue of a new registration certificate for a vintage vehicle will cost Rs 20,000 and re-registration or renewal of the same will cost Rs 5,000
• Vintage vehicles barred from regular and commercial use

New rules for vintage vehicles in India

A vintage vehicle is defined as a two-wheeler or four-wheeler that is at least 50 years older than its original first date of registration, as per the draft.

The notification states that, for the registration or re-registration of vintage vehicles, owners will be required to produce the car’s valid insurance policy, a bill of entry, in case the vehicle is imported, and the old registration certificate, if the vehicle has already been registered in India. Furthermore, vintage vehicles will be issued a new registration format. The new format will be in the form of ‘XX VA YY ****’ where XX will stand for the state code, VA stands for vintage vehicle, YY will be a two-letter series and **** will be a four digit number between 0001 and 9999 that will be allocated by the respective state registering authority. 

As per the draft, the issue of a new certificate for a vintage vehicle will cost the owner Rs 20,000 and will be valid for a period of 10 years. Subsequently, the renewal of said registration will cost the owner an additional Rs 5,000 and will be valid for 5 years.  

New laws for the sale of vintage vehicles have also been outlined. The law states that sale or purchase of these vehicles will be allowed, provided the buyer and the seller inform their respective state transport authorities within a period of 90 days from sale or purchase.

The new draft also states that vintage vehicles cannot be put to regular use like other vehicles and the owners cannot use them for commercial purposes either. However, the draft does not specify the terms to classify the usage of these vehicles as ‘regular’. We feel this is fair as it is very unlikely for any vintage or classic car owner to use their cars for regular use. These cars are almost always used sparingly as they are mainly bought and maintained as hobby or for sentimental values.

Several clubs and collectors had made applications to the government to give relief to vintage vehicles, following the draft notification from November 2020.

Therefore, this new notification comes as a major relief to vintage vehicle owners and clubs in the country, as the restricted usage, which was stated in the last notification, combined with the scrappage policy was really a cause of concern earlier. However, in February, the government clarified that the scrappage scheme would be voluntary, which eased the worries of vintage and classic car owners to a large extent.

Lastly, the notification has no guidelines mentioned for classic or modern classic vehicles that are younger than 50 years. However, given that the scrappage policy is voluntary, we believe there is no reason to worry for classic vehicle collectors, and it should not deter prospective buyers either.