Car registration at selected insurance companies

Dubai Motorists can now get their car registration renewed at selected insurance company offices, said a senior official at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

"The RTA has entered into an agreement with five selected insurance companies it calls 'Trusted Agents' giving them the authority to renew vehicle registration for their customers," said Ahmad Hashim Behroozian, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RTA's Licensing Agency.

This means that when a motorist goes to renew his vehicle insurance at one of the five approved insurers, he can also get his car registration renewed at the same place without visiting vehicle licensing departments or Tasjeel centres.
The motorist, however, has to get the vehicle tested and get the vehicle pass test report from Tasjeel or other authorised vehicle test centres. However, a vehicle test report is not required any more for vehicles up to three years old.

"The new service has been launched in line with the Agency's strategic plan to introduce more online services and provide more facilities to its customers," he told a press conference yesterday.
The five insurance companies approved by the RTA for carrying out car registration are Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance, Fujairah Insurance, Oman Insurance, AXA Insurance and Noor Takaful Insurance.

"The new service will also help reduce long queues and waiting time at the RTA's licensing centres. The vehicle registration renewal service is the single largest transaction service done by the Licensing Agency as more than one million vehicles are registered in Dubai and their registrations have to be renewed every year," said Behroozian.

An average of around 2,700 vehicle registrations are renewed every day. The announcement was made in a press conference held yesterday morning.
Traffic fines

Behroozian said insurance companies would not charge any extra for this service. Also, they will be authorised to collect traffic fines if there are any from their customers.

Every insurance company will be able to apply for registration for its own customer and not from any other insurance company, he explained.
Insurance companies representatives who were also present at the function thanked the RTA for trusting their services. They said that they would soon announce the launch of the new services at their premises.
Karl Gray, Director of personal lines at the Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance, told Gulf News that his company would launch the vehicle registration service next week.
"We will launch the service with a special offer for our customers during Ramadan as we will renew registration cards free of cost for the first 300 customers," he added.

Stalled sales disheartens auto dealers

VietNamNet Bridge – Even though car dealers have been trying to launch promotional campaigns to stimulate demand, auto sales have been going very slowly throughout the country.

 
          Le Minh Thien, the owner of an import car showroom in HCM City, lamented that sales are very slow in the last few months. Thien admitted that sometimes he has to sell cars at a loss to take back capital.


         Other car showrooms of the city are also quiet these days. One sales associate revealed that, on some days, they have no visitors. Previously, he recalled, he could sell several cars a day, but now he would be happy to sell one a week.


Phung Van Minh, Deputy Director of Hai Chau Company, an import car trader, complained about the slow market too. He predicted that small firms may close, because they lack enough earnings to pay their rent and staff salaries.

Domestically-assembled auto sales have also slowed, despite many promotions. Vidamco launched a campaign to reduce prices 9.6-25 million dong per car for Vivant, Captiva, Lacetti and Gentra models. Ford Vietnam has also announced a 10 million dong price reduction for Mondeo, while Mercedes has decided to prop up five percent of the ownership registration tax, applied to models like GLK 4 Matic, C300 A Vangarde.

Nguyen Van Bong, a Toyota sales agent, commented that these efforts still have not helped.

                     According to Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper, tax and fee increases have made car prices rise by 10 percent over the end of 2009. The new plan to collect fees from cars entering the city center, as well as the overloaded transport system, has discouraged potential buyers.

          Tran Tien Manh, Director of Hoa Binh Trading Company in HCM City, has canceled plans to buy a car in favor of renting. According to Manh, if he purchased a car now, he would pay 1.2 billion dong plus some 30 million dong more a month. To rent a car, he pays only 20 million dong a month.

                   In forecasts of the car market towards the year’s end, car dealers expect the current situation will not improve. They point to Circular No. 71 by the Ministry of Finance on defining car tax value. The taxable values will be market prices, not those written down on bills of sale. For a long time, car buyers have evaded taxes by colluding with auto dealers. The prices on the bills were just equal to 60-80 percent of the actual prices. Now, with enforcement of Circular No. 71, the price of cars will rise, making the auto market stall further.


                   According to Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), in July 2010, member companies sold 9439 cars, a decrease of 13 percent over the same period of last year, and a decline of six percent over the previous month.

Out-of-date records help auto drivers ride away scot-free

Ever complained about an auto driver and wondered later what became of it? Chances are, very little.

Nearly 32,000 cases have been booked against errant auto drivers in July 2010 alone. Police officials say that nearly a lakh cases are booked each year against auto drivers. What happens after the complaints are booked, however, is a long story.

Policemen say that notices are sent routinely to those against whom complaints are received. However, the notices never quite find their way to the real culprits. Why? Because even the Road Transport Office (RTO) does not have updated information about the owners of vehicles that have changed hands frequently.
At the root of this problem lies the registration certificate. This certificate is issued to the owner of the vehicle.

However, the owner of the auto might have sold it to someone else, without updating the records available at the RTO. An auto might change hands several times over, or be driven by someone who does not own it. In such cases, there is no way that one can make the connection between the registration number and the errant auto driver.

Prabhakar Bayeri, traffic inspector, Ulsoor Gate police station, said, “Our assistant sub-inspectors and sub-inspectors register complaints. These are immediately converted to cases and notices are issued to the addresses mentioned in the registration certificate. Unfortunately, though, the ones who receive the notices often have very little to do with the offence, as many owners may have sold the vehicle to someone else, who might be responsible for the offence. That is the problem we face.”

For the city traffic police, attending to complaints about auto drivers charging exorbitant fares is low on the priority list: “There are six junctions very near the police station. Our main aim is to clear traffic on the roads and see to it that the vehicles ply safely. We care for the passengers and the pedestrians, and even when we see instances of fleecing by auto drivers under our very noses, we cannot always intervene,” said Bayeri. Ulsoor Gate traffic police station alone has registered 1,437 autos under different cases this year.

Cases can be booked against autos for parking in no-parking zones and within the compound of BMTC bus stations; for refusing to go on hire; for demanding excessive amounts as fares, and against drivers not wearing their uniform or unable to display their driving licence cards. Even autos carrying more than the maximum of three passengers may be booked.

The traffic and security headquarters revealed that in the last seven months, 21,000 autos were booked for refusing to go on hire; 11,000 were booked for demanding excessive amounts as fare.

Additional commissioner of police (traffic), Praveen Sood said that the Rs100 fine imposed on errant auto drivers can act as a deterrent. However, he added that while the police force could act to penalise auto drivers who create problems for commuters, the transport department had a far larger role to play in the matter.

“The transport departmentshould not renew licenses of drivers against whom there are more than three pending cases. As soon as such strict drives are taken jointly by the transport department and traffic police, drivers will not fleece people with impunity,” Sood said.

Sood also said that complaint cards will soon be made readily available in schools, hospitals, malls and all important junctions in the city.The commuter could either post filled cards or drop them off personally at the nearest police station, he said.

Mangalore: When Auto Drivers Take Public for a Royal Ride

Many e- mail users must have got this mail recently asking people to say “no” to autos and taxis on 12th August, 2010 because they say no to you whenever you want.  So are you ready to skip the ride? It asked.  In continuation it said “because strike needs a strike back.  We are tired of meters that always read more than it should, drivers who refuse to ply and demand return fare….and there are strikes.  Everyone is holding the janta to ransom.  Now it is time to turn the table”.  

Well, I remembered reading this mail when I witnessed this scene in the Mangalore Railway Station on 14th August, 2010.  One woman traveler asked the auto driver waiting at the railway station to go to some destination and he refused point blank.  The woman requested the driver a few times and a Police Inspector who was a witness to this whole saga also appealed to the driver to take her to the destination.  The driver did not budge and started giving excuses.

The inspector thought enough was enough and caught hold of him and took him to the police station despite his protests.

There have been numerous instances about the unethical practices and rude behavior of auto drivers as they resort to all sorts of tactics to swindle unsuspecting and helpless customers who depend on autos at odd hours such as early morning or late nights when bus transport facility is not available. This happens mainly in railway or bus stops where helpless customers have no other choice but to surrender to the whims of the auto drivers.  Some passengers end up paying more to the autos than what they paid for their entire train journey.  

  

A colleague of my friend was explaining to me on how he was charged Rs. 150/- from Mangalore Central Railway Station to Bejai recently, which is nothing but cheating customers.  “I was helpless and I knew he charged me more than it costs even if it is charged at 1 ½ .  But there was no other means of transport from the railway station and I had shell out whatever he demanded.  I don’t mind paying a few extra bucks but not this kind of robbery”, he explained.  

It is not just in terms of auto fares that auto drivers cheat the gullible public.  What is even more galling is that all auto drivers gang up in lending support to their fellow drivers in the event of any public altercations.  They blindly support the auto drivers as an act of solidarity with their fellow man.

 

A photo-journalist recently had a bad experience   when an auto driver slammed to his brother’s jeep that had Kerala State registration.  The auto driver had driven recklessly and had hit the rear side of the jeep.  There was not much  damage to the auto except its front light which got cracked.  

The auto driver with the support of other drivers demanded Rs. 1000/- as damages and he thought he  could get away because the jeep was bearing Kerala registration and the auto driver thought the driver would shell out that much amount rather than take the trouble of coming to Mangalore in the event of a case.  But the driver got a surprise of his life when the matter was taken to the police station and resulting in the police seizing his auto after it was found that he was drunk. 

It is true some auto drivers put in  extra efforts to be in bus stands  and railway  stations during odd hours and as a reward for the extra effort  they are entitled to charge the customer 1 ½ of the cost of the meter if it is before 6 am  and after 8 pm.  Customers willingly pay this amount and some customers even may give some extra tips over and above that cost.  What is noisome is the way the drivers cheat taking customers for a royal ride purposely in order to swindle more money.  

Some auto drivers refuse to ply short distance, which is again irritable, because they are unable to cheat due to the low and minimum cost of auto fare.

Ivan D Souza, who is the President of Auto Rickshaw Owners and Drivers Association, Mangalore, agrees that such complaints are common against auto drivers in the city.  “In every meeting of the union the drivers are told not to resort to cheating the customers and win over the confidence of the customers by being just.  

If the customers complain to the RTO in writing or orally giving the registration number of the auto and the place from which the driver refused to ply, the RTO will take action. Such autos will be seized for 2 to 3 days or his license will be suspended along with fine so that they desist from such activities. The union will in no way come to the rescue of such drivers or support their cause”, Ivan stated. 

Ivan also pointed out that an auto which is in the bus or railway station cannot refuse customers to go to any destination and the public is free to complain to the RTO about such autos. 

Ivan also stated that to avoid this kind of cheating by the auto drivers,  pre-paid  auto service has been put up at KSRTC and railways stations both at Mangalore Central and Kankanady.  However,  on inquiry it is learnt that no such service is available either in railway or bus stations.  One of the railway officials confirmed that pre-paid auto functioned only about a month or so and now only the booth is there and  no service, thus leaving the passengers totally under the mercy of unscrupulous auto drivers.   

Pre-paid  auto service is a good remedy to get rid of dishonest  auto drivers.  But that does not solve the root cause  of the problem.  There are so many ways they try to cheat credulous customers.  The change of attitude has to come from the auto drivers rather than imposing it on them.  Many of them refuse to charge the meter and  fix or demand a certain amount of money to go to a particular destination.  The best way to get rid of this kind of annoyance is to complain to the RTO by customers  against drivers who cheat or refuse to go to any particular destination. 

Regional Transport Officer  Seva Naik, who recently took charge as Mangalore RTO, agrees there are complaints about the rude behavior and cheating by auto drivers.  Customers can complain to the RTO in writing giving details of the auto number,  which is very important and if possible give details of the place from where the auto operated.  “Once we receive a complaint we call both the parties and try to assess the situation.  

The guilty driver will be punished by suspending his license for one or two weeks.  This will act as a deterrent and repeated such complaints would lead to the cancellation of license.  If the license is suspended it will be listed in his license history as black mark which will serve as a deterrent”, said Seva Naik when asked what action RTO takes on erring auto drivers.

 

Customers also can call 100 and complain and traffic police would respond immediately.  But a complaint to the RTO is the best way to deal with the problem.  

One Avinash from Vamanjoor had recently complained to the RTO about the misbehavior of an auto driver giving his vehicle number and other details.  The department called the driver to the office and initiated proper action based on the complaint. However, the RTO did not rule out the possibility of such  drivers running the auto even when the license is suspended.  “Auto drivers will commit such blunders   at their own peril. They  will face real problem if at all something goes wrong during that period”, says the RTO. 

 

So the next time you feel an auto driver is refusing to ply you or is demanding more money without using the meter,  the best way out of the impasse is to telephone 100 and follow it up  by a complain to the RTO against such erring  auto drivers.  It is better to act rather than merely talk bout harassment by auto drivers.  

In the meantime, the RTO has called a meeting of Atuo Owners and Drivers on 23rd August  at the D C’s office to discuss fare fixation, at 3.30 pm, in which auto owners and drivers, traffic police and other concerned departments will take part.   RTO has said the public can participate in this meeting and express their grievances or the problems they face from auto drivers.