Vroom! Vintage vehicles to drive with number plates displaying 'VA'

New Delhi, Dec 15: In a respite for enthusiasts and collectors of vintage cars, classic vehicles of more than 50 years of age may flash special number plates and enjoy exemption from scrappage once the regulation for these vehicles are formalised.

For facilitating regulation and registration of old vintage vehicles, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has come out with a draft notification that provides for a special number plate with "VA" letters signifying vintage in the registration number. "...it is expedient to provide for the preservation of vintage vehicles owing to their historic, cultural, technical and aesthetic significance. In exercise with the powers conferred by...the Motor Vehicles Act...the central government on being satisfied that steps are required to encourage and regulate vintage motor vehicles being a part of technical, motoring and cultural heritage is pleased to make order of regulation for their registration or re-registration," the draft notification said.

The regulation of vintage motor vehicles order 2019 mentions that these vehicles will display high-security registration plates bearing a registration mark consisting of the letters "XXVAYY" where VA stands for vintage, XX stands for state code and YY will be a two letter series followed by a number from 01 to 09 as allotted by the state registering authority.

The proposed policy for which comments have been sought from the stakeholders and people will help identify and regulate vintage vehicles, exempting them from scrappage. The move is also aimed at helping collectors of such vehicles avoid harassments from enforcement agencies, an official said.

The draft notification states that this special registration will allow the vehicle to be piloted on public roads under a wider variety of circumstances, excluding commercial use. The government had earlier made special allowance for vintage cars participating in vintage car rallies to operate without registration.

The proposed policy also envisages that a one-time fee of Rs 20,000 will be deposited with the state transport authorities at the time of registration of such vehicles, which will be valid for 10 years and renewal.

Earlier, there was no formal procedure or clarity of registering old vintage cars. The need for regulation was felt when the issue was highlighted time and again including by various federations and was discussed at the 55th meeting of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules-Technical Standing Committee (CMVR-TSC).

The road transport ministry has sought comments from the public on the proposed draft order within 30 days. The draft notification says that all vintage motor vehicles shall not, however, be driven or plied on the roads for regular purposes and shall not be used for any commercial purposes. The Centre has also proposed to form a Vintage Motor Vehicles State Committee at the state level for administering the process of providing registration to the vintage cars.