The Transport Department and the city police directive to obtain Transfer of Ownership (TO) certificate for all vehicles that were resold has evoked mixed response from two-wheeler resellers.
The Transport Department and the city police has fixed July 20 as deadline to obtain the certificate.
President of the Two-Wheeler Dealers’ Welfare Association K. Sebastian Jose has welcomed the directive. “We have asked resellers of used vehicles to ensure that TO certificate be obtained before the used vehicle is sold”, he said. However, he felt that it would be difficult to get the certificate for used vehicles sold in the past.
According to him, about 95 per cent of used cars are sold with the TO certificate.
Automobile industryTwo-wheeler resale business is a major sector in the automobile industry in Coimbatore, with more than 160 consultants in and around the city.
“On an average a vehicle that we purchase for resale is sold in about three weeks. If a vehicle is not sold in three months, it is sent to another consultant on an exchange basis”, says S. Jagadish Kumar, a consultant.
“It is because those who are interested in buying used vehicles will not come to our outlet if they see the same vehicle here for more days”, he said.
Learn drivingSome people (mostly women) prefer two-wheelers that were already owned by two or more owners. They use the vehicle for one to six months to learn driving and sell it back to us.
“We buy the vehicle back for a lesser amount. There are youth (students and employed men) who have the habit of changing their vehicle once or twice a year”, another consultant M. Babu said.
The resale dealers and consultants are of the opinion that they cannot get a TO certificate for vehicles bought by them for sale.
RC book“It is because we have to get an additional RC book from the RTO office when a vehicle has more than five owners. This will result in drastic depreciation of the vehicles value,” they claimed.
“Very low down payment for buying new vehicles and availability of a range of new two-wheelers at a lesser price has already hit the vehicle resale industry. Making the TO certificate mandatory will affect the buyers, sellers and consultants like us,” some resellers lamented.
