Owners of seized luxury vehicles must first settle all dues, including road tax, insurance and saman, before they’ll get their cars back, transport minister Anthony Loke has said, in response to a Bernama report.
On reports that some owners were willing to pay the (minimum) RM300 positive because it was cheaper than the annual road tax, Loke said: “Vehicles which can be seized as a result of expired road tax and insurance will only be released in any case payments are settled. This includes road tax, insurance coverage and compound fines. There are not any shortcuts,” adding that many homeowners wrongly assume that paying the RM300 positive is enough.
Will the positive be hiked? Loke replied that the ministry is reviewing the proposal and that any increase would require amendments to existing laws.
The road transport department (JPJ) has reportedly identified over 1,000 luxury vehicles in Malaysia with long-expired road tax, a few of that are apparently owned by celebrities and distinguished business figures who claim the cars are only used as ‘weekend cars’. ‘Lupa‘ (I forgot) is one other excuse, also popular with some caught not wearing seat belts.
JPJ’s recent Ops Luxury and Ops Luxury 2.0 crackdowns have seized at the least 150 such cars, including 10 by the Negeri Sembilan chapter. A couple of days ago, a senior lawyer was reported as saying that he was told that it was cheaper to pay a maximum RM3,000 positive for not having the required documents in comparison with paying 1000’s for a luxury automobile’s road tax and insurance.
“The orang kena saman explained that it was higher to pay the (at minimum) RM300 positive, because it was cheaper and more worthwhile in comparison with paying over RM5,000 for road tax and greater than RM10,000 for insurance for his continental automobile. If he just continues driving without road tax and insurance and gets fined, the utmost is just RM3,000. It’s more price it,” he told Berita Harian.
“If he were to get into an accident and hit a member of the general public while having no vehicle insurance coverage, the victim or their family wouldn’t have the opportunity to make any claims. Ultimately, they’d must bear all court and medical costs themselves.
“Legal costs can reach as much as RM10,000 to RM40,000, excluding medical and other court costs. Actually, even in the event that they win the case, there’s no guarantee they are going to receive the compensation money,” he added.
JPJ’s Ops Luxury and Ops Luxury 2.0
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
