MITI has posted a statement on its new MITI blog clarifying a few points in the NAP Review, specifically the end-of-life policy and the annual inspection for road tax renewal. Hopefully this will clear some of your doubts on the exact timelines of certain things to be implemented.

Firstly, I think the most feared part of the review for all of us is the announcement of an impending vehicle end-of-life policy. There have been plenty of comments from readers on how this policy will negatively affect them and their qualify of life. I particularly like this story about the old atuk who drives a Pajero diesel to his surau.

MITI has revealed that the government has not set a Vehicle End-of-Life Policy in stone yet. It has merely announced intentions to develop one, and they (Ministry of Transport who are in charge of developing the policy) claim they will take into consideration views of all parties through consultations with consumer associations and NGOs. There is no mention which associations and NGOs these are, but I sure hope they fight for us. I hope we end up with a reasonable end of life policy with the option of extending your vehicle lifespan at a cost, similiar to the act of buying a new COE for your car in Singapore.

Though the NAP review document seemed to lead us to believe 2010 is the start point of our yearly Puspakom nightmares, MITI has clarified that a start date for the annual vehicle inspection for road tax renewal has not been fixed yet, so it will not be 1st January 2010. An effective date will be announced later.

In the statement, MITI Secretary General Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat said the whole idea of the annual inspection was to ensure vehicles over 15 years of age are safe and roadworthy. He compared the inspection to the current rule where commercial vehicles have to go for an inspection every time their road tax is due for renewal. Commercial vans, pick-ups, 4X4s and etc are currently charged between RM50 to RM70 for inspections, and RM25 for reinspections.

So all in all, the NAP has given no allowance for a drop in car prices except at the higher end of the market, and that is only if the manufacturers decide to take up the carrots offered, but that looks a little unlikely at this point of time. Even the premium boys have set up shop in Thailand – did you know some CBU BMWs come from BMW’s Thailand plant in Rayong?

We will now lose the option to use good condition used parts for our cars, have to spend extra cash on annual car inspections, and finally the big bang is face the possibility of a reduced fuel subsidy once the Mykad subsidy system is implemented, together with high car prices. That wraps up what the NAP Review 2009 and Budget 2010 is all about for the common motorist.

Under Section E Part VI of the NAP Review, the government revealed that it would be implementing a full Vehicle End of Life policy which would come in stages. A roadmap will be formulated by the Ministry of Transport to lay out the steps towards the scrap policy implementation, but the first step is already here – a mandatory yearly inspection for cars older than 15 years in order to get their road tax renewed. Why 15 years? Could that be the vehicle age that they are looking at to enforce scrapping in the future?

According to the NAP review, Malaysia currently has 2.7 million cars on the road that are 10 years or older and the country has a very low vehicle scrap rate and a relatively high average vehicle age. With so many people having to go for 7 to 9 year loans to buy their vehicles, is this really a surprise that after suffering financial burden for so long, you would want to reap the benefit of your transportation longer?

There are currently a few situations where we go to Puspakom for their dreaded tests. It is an open secret what kind of environment that place is. A friend of mine had his tint test failed repeatedly even though his car windscreen was clear and had absolutely no tint. He argued that he should not be failed and somehow he ended up passing but with some rubber parts of his car damaged. When my E30 was sent for an ownership change inspection (B5 test), it came back with a broken glovebox latch and all the rubber trim around the door utterly raped.

If you are a straight shooter the only cash you will have to pay during these annual road tax inspections are the Puspakom fees itself. Right now there are two tests for private motorcars – the transfer of ownership test and a voluntary test which most of the time is not really voluntary – you may need certificates from these tests to renew your insurance these days. The ownership transfer test involves checking your vehicle identity (chassis and engine), chassis frame condition, and tinted glass. The voluntary inspection checks more stuff – identity, above carriage, emissions, brakes, suspension, side slip, speedometer, headlamps, undercarriage and tinted glass.

The voluntary test goes for RM50 (according to this Puspakom pricelist) and the transfer test costs RM30. So you can expect this annual inspection for road tax renewal to probably cost around these prices as well.