The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has officially announced the revised rules for registering a vintage or classic vehicle in India that is at least 50 years older than its original first date of registration. This is aimed at preserving and promoting the heritage of old vehicles in the country.
According to the new rules, all 2 & 4-wheelers that are more than 50 years old and have been maintained in their original form with undergone any substantial overhaul, shall be described as Vintage Motor Vehicles. For such vehicles, the issue of a new registration certificate will cost the owner Rs 20,000 per vehicle and will be valid for a period of 10 years. Subsequently, the renewal of the registration certificate (RC) will cost Rs 5,000.
The application for registration/re-registration is to be done as per Form 20, accompanied by an insurance policy, fee, bill of entry (imported vehicles), and an old RC in the case of an already registered vehicle. Once the entire registration process completes, the concerned state registering authority shall issue a certificate of registration (as per FORM 23A), within 60 days.
The new rules also state that those vintage vehicles that have already been registered can retain their original registration mark. However, for fresh registration, a new format has been introduced in the form of ‘XX VA YY ****’ where XX will stand for the state code, VA stands for a vintage vehicle, YY will be a two-letter series and **** will be a four-digit number between 0001 and 9999.
It is important to note that no vintage cars will be allowed to run on public roads for regular or commercial purposes. However, car collectors or enthusiasts can still collect and display them for special events or exhibitions.
While these new rules will allow vintage cars to survive in India, we think the government should allow them to ply on the roads with a limit.
