The officials said that car buyers have to pay corporation’s vehicle tax ranging from 1% to 5% of the base price of the vehicle.
For example, if the base price of the vehicle is INR 87 lakh, a person in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation area will have to pay INR 4.35 lakh as corporation’s vehicle tax, while in Rajkot it would be INR 2.61 lakh, in Vadodara INR 2.17 lakh, and in Surat INR 3.48 lakh. The vehicle tax is levied by corporations over and above the registration charge.
About 28,900 cars were registered in the Ahmedabad district from Jan 1 to May 20 this year, of which over 50% were priced over INR 25 lakh, 30% were between INR 10 lakh and INR 25 lakh, and 20% were below INR 10 lakh, said a senior official of the transport department. The official noted that while the registration was low in the segment below INR 10 lakh, the percentage was much higher in the segments above INR 15 lakh.
In Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat, there is only one RTO, while Ahmedabad has three — Ahmedabad (GJ-01) for the city, Vastral (GJ-27) for the eastern part of the city, and Bavla (GJ-38) for rural areas.
According to the official, on average, of 25 cars valued more than INR 80 lakh registered in Ahmedabad district, eight would be registered in rural areas, especially in Bavla, translating to 30% of the total registrations in this segment. The officer added that as the base price increases, the number of registrations of such cars in rural areas also increases.
In Bavla, according to an official, 5,508 cars have been registered till May 20 this year, of which over 40% are priced over INR 25 lakh. For a car with a base price of INR 25 lakh, the vehicle tax in the corporation areas would be about INR 1.25 lakh, the official said. Sources said that during a meeting, officials proposed to have a uniform vehicle tax structure, especially for foreign-made cars. “The trend is gaining momentum as luxury car buyers are required to pay a substantial amount on vehicle registrations in metro cities like Ahmedabad. People try to cut this expenditure by getting their cars registered in nearby rural areas. They just have to produce a rent agreement with police verification for getting the benefit,” the official said.
A man in the south Bopal area of the city, who recently bought a car worth over INR 40 lakh, got the vehicle registered in Bavla. “I have my ancestral house in the Kerala village of Bavla taluka and my Aadhaar card too has this address. I saved INR 1.85 lakh by getting the vehicle registered with GJ-38 number, and I spent the saved money on buying accessories,” said the car owner.
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