Many of you may have probably heard or already know that the road tax charged on vehicles in East Malaysia – Sabah and Sarawak – is less compared to vehicles in the Peninsular. However, why is this the case?
In actuality, there are guidelines issued by the Road Transport Department (JPJ) on the matter, here, where there are several zones, each with their own road tax rates. The zones include the Peninsular, Pangkor Island/Langkawi, Sabah/Sarawak and Labuan Island.
For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus only on passenger vehicles (motorcycles and commercial vehicles have their own rates) that are privately registered, and highlight the difference in road tax between West Malaysia, as well as Sabah and Sarawak.
The department classifies passenger vehicles into two categories – “saloon” and “non-saloon.” The former refers to vehicles such as sedans, hatchbacks, wagons, and coupes, while the latter encompasses pick-up trucks, MPVs, and SUVs.
Based on the respective categories, the vehicle’s road tax is determined via the engine’s capacity or displacement. The current formula used by the JPJ (amended after the 2009 Budget) involves classes of vehicles with engines under and above 1,600 cc in capacity.
For “saloon” vehicles with engines below 1,600 cc, there are four other groups with a fixed road tax rate – 1,000 cc and below (RM20), 1,001 cc to 1,200 cc (RM55), 1,201 cc to 1,400 cc (RM70), and 1,401 cc to 1,600 cc (RM90).
Meanwhile, “saloon” vehicles with engine capacities above 1,600 cc have five separate groups, each consisting of a base rate and progressive rate that is added on for each incremental cc.
For engines with a capacity of 1,601 cc to 1,800 cc, the base rate is RM200, while the progressive rate is RM0.40 for each cc difference from 1,600 cc. Next, vehicles with engines between 1,801 cc and 2,000 cc are charged a base rate of RM280, with a progressive rate of RM0.50 per cc difference from 1,800 cc.
This is followed by a capacity of 2,001 cc to 2,500 cc (base rate RM380, progressive rate RM1 per cc difference from 2,000 cc), 2,501 cc to 3,000 cc (base rate RM880, progressive rate RM2.5 per cc difference from 2,500 cc), and exceeding 3,000 cc (base rate RM2,130, progressive rate RM4.50 per cc difference from 3,000 cc). All the rates mentioned up to this point are applicable only for Peninsular Malaysia.
By comparison, the table above shows us the road tax rate charged on passenger vehicles classified as “saloon” in Sabah and Sarawak. As you can see, the rate applied to the sub-categories associated with cars that are fitted with engines below 1,600 in capacity are as follows – 1,000 cc and below (RM20), 1,001 cc to 1,200 cc (RM44), 1,201 cc to 1,400 cc (RM56), and 1,401 cc to 1,600 cc (RM72).
It is a similar case for vehicles with engines above 1,600 cc, where engine capacities from 1,601 cc to 1,800 cc have a base rate of RM160, with a progressive rate of RM0.32 per cc difference from 1,600 cc. Each sub-category after that follows in the same path, considerably lower than in Peninsular Malaysia.
Furthermore, “non-saloon” vehicles in Sabah and Sarawak are also charged a lower road tax rate than those in Peninsular Malaysia, as you can see below. As an example, a pick-up truck with an engine capacity of 3,500 cc will be charged a road tax of RM2,440 in Peninsular, whereas in Sabah, it’s only RM1,503.
You can consult the list of road tax rates in Malaysia, here, if you want to source further examples. Alternatively, if you want a quick and easy way to calculate your road tax, Carbase.my has an application that can do it for you as well.
So, why the significant difference in our example above? According to director of the JPJ’s automotive engineering department, Datuk Mohamad Dalib, there are several factors for this. “The geographical condition there, travel distance, as well as the condition of road facilities and infrastructure prepared (by the government), are vastly different,” he said, referring to East Malaysia.
“Journeys take a longer time (there), even for short trips. Why? In rural areas, motorists need to navigate poorly-surfaced, tight roads, where they need to follow a queue to pass through, and there are even areas where they are required to board a ferry to cross a river,” he explained.
“In such situations, can you drive a (Perodua) Kancil? Yes, but only within city limits. Therefore, motorists there require four-wheel drive vehicles, which are substantially more expensive compared to a Kancil. The cheaper road tax structure (there) is meant to compensate for any shortcomings that exist as a result, ” he added.
The geographical terrain of Sabah and Sarawak results in motorists there having different needs compared to those in the Peninsular. As a result, four-wheel drive vehicles powered by large capacity engines are commonplace in Sabah and Sarawak, and are more suited for day-to-day use there.
However, will the situation continue to exist forever? “When it reaches a point where the infrastructure and road network there have achieved a level of quality enjoyed by motorists in the Peninsular, it isn’t impossible that the road tax rates will be re-evaluated later on. For now though, it will remain as is,” explained Mohamad Dalib.
As for vehicles that are registered in East Malaysia, but driven in the Peninsular, he explained that there is no issue if you don’t get into an accident. If you do, there is a possibility the insurance company will not bear the costs, and you will be unable to claim anything. To prevent this unpleasantness, Mohamad Dalib said owners should inform the JPJ that the vehicle will be used in Peninsular Malaysia.
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Easy. Because we have roads with the worst conditions, and the most fxcking expensive car price.
Why nobody come here to blame proton?
Because we in Sarawak and Sabah use Proton as a secondary car. Most of our main daily driver is either Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Mitsubishi, or Isuzu. You’ll see more Hilux, Navara, Ranger, Triton, and D-Max compared to other vehicle brand on the road. Who wants to complain about Proton’s power-window problem when they have problem with Nissan spare parts that would costs a fortune to get one. Owning a Proton is relatively cheap so not much complains made.
And this explains why Mahathir’s son veyron is using a Sabah plate… good work.
1)Dun read.
2)Scroll down.
3)Start the bash.
Happy Deeps everyone!
Whats the meaning of “Happy Deeps” bro
Happy Deepavali..lol
Here it is called Pain Borneo.The road condition is simply terrible.Yes there are good stretches but not all the way.Only for certain kilometres.Then the rest is…just enough to be called tar sealed.And this before you get stuck behind a trailer for miles.
KL people come sabah sawany 4×4..they will say wahh orang kaya o…
for me ..just normal toyota hilux
Until they see Mesidis pickup.
Sebagai ganjaran 1976, maybe?
Even their hiway is FOC
What highway?
Pan Borneo
U call that high way???? It just double lane road only… come and see it with ur own eyes pls
If your definition of a highway is single-lane road with overtaking lanes every few kilometers, then yes, Sarawak and Sabah have a ‘highway’. Those fancy two lane roads being touted as part of the Pan Borneo Highway are only near urban areas. Away from cities, the ‘highway’ still consists of the same single-lane roads but only now they are being resurfaced.
Free Pan Borneo Highway not equal to Paid Plus Highway. So why complain?
Foc? Wait until after GE
If you wan eazy go to havent pay roadtax..also yong man who want havent work as taxi dryver upay drb proton insuran 1 paty puspakom sepaypart mekanik lesen psv maybe sure saman petrol ngv petronas u just pay pay pay hingga till havent u hanya dapat teh tarik roti canai telor and tom yam also tired letih in traffic jam.
U east malaysia hillux veellveellfaree i taksee old saga cap kepala ular. Don angry proton your cap brand world class. Haven branded.
I think in sabah/sarawak there are still differences in petrol/diesel powered engines and 4×2/4×4 drivetrain road tax
Cause the car price in Sabah & Sarawak region is much higher than Malaya region.
The rates for Sabah differs from those for Sarawak, and both differ from Oeninsula’s. Sabahans enjoybthe best rates for big 4X4s.
Not to mention, Sabahans & Sarawakians pay an extra of RM2000.00 for otr price due to shipping. Including for national cars.
Penisular Highwasy ARE ALL TOLLED. Plus NO SUBSIDY from Govn Now.
Whats so special about Sabah and Sawarak ?
We pay more for the price of car compare to penisular car..
That you have to blame the car company. But no need to blame because that part of business. Transportation cost to post your car. So because of that must pay less road tax? Try say that to all those people who buy CBU car all over MY. Did they got less road tax? Less road tax not because your car cost more there, but less road tax because less road to drive.
Well, for starter most things are more expensive here in the East. Cars are on average 3k more expensive. And the Pan Borneo Highway is not even a real highway per se, so save your grievance about East Malaysians enjoying unfair advantage.
nothing special..just come over dude..u’ll get it
Maybe we should take back control of our oil and taxes. Let’s see where you get your money for projects after that
Come to sarawak and try driving from kuching to limbang using perodua kancil/viva
Penisular – All Main Highways are TOLLED and no subsidy fron Govn Now.
Whats so SPecial about Sabah and Sawarak ???
maybe because roads here are shit? justsayin.
Using engine capacity as the basis for taxation is very unfair and so old-fashioned. Ther are other parameters that could be used, but will they ever change?
Looks like forced induction is the way to go here in Bolehland if one needs a powerful car.
another dinosaur laws & regulations which still exist here….all developed countries roadtax are based on emission… such as CO2 …Nox..etc..but here in Msia negara mundur, still based on engine displacement.
You shud tax more for those engine which pollute more, ….u’ll be surprise when some big displacement engine are more cleaner than a Proton’s 1.3 liter campro engine……………………………
U mean as clean as dieselgate? Oh wai…
what are u talking abt, are u an idiot?? my guess is those vw’s dieselgate engine are way more cleaner than any iswara/saga engine….
anyway nowadays most big displacement engine like the camry hybrid 2.5 liter are coupled wt battery packs….they are way more cleaner than any smaller displacement Proton Campro…the main point here displacement does not matters…if the engine is not good it will pollute more!
Forget about pollution. Even car company are rethinking to go back to bigger cc car. The gov just want to tax the rich more. Obviously if you can buy 2.5 l Camry, no need to complain about paying tax.
welcome to Malaysia. Taxation is a commonality these days. Barang Naik, and Sume Barang Tax comes in hand in hand….
Show me a country that doesnt tax in one way or another
Taxation is a norm in all countries except Malaysia where Malaysian been taxed exageratedly.
There is no different for the road condition in Sabah and Sarawak as compare to peninsular Malaysia (road without tol), the condition are just the same. Some of the road is even better than the one we have in peninsular Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia should get the same road tax rate as Sabah and Sarawak. The good condition road we get is the highway and everyone pay TOL for it (and the tol amount is increasing every year).
cos sabah sarawak all on mud road
Cnp from AA,
There is no different for the road condition in Sabah and Sarawak as compare to peninsular Malaysia (road without tol), the condition are just the same. Some of the road is even better than the one we have in peninsular Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia should get the same road tax rate as Sabah and Sarawak. The good condition road we get is the highway and everyone pay TOL for it (and the tol amount is increasing every year).
True… plus even though our roadtax is expired, the insurance co will still cover the claim. Let alone one that having valid roadtax from ss.
better talk about 200% tax from the gov for Imported cars…rather than talking bout the roadtax & road condition.
try to drive from ipoh to lumut or ipoh to taiping or taiping lumut n compre to the experience driving from sandakan to ranau.i have drove almost all road in perak from tg malim to pengkalan hulu..n i can cnfm the diffrence is langit n bumi
I am a WMsian now resident in EMsia. Road tax in EMsia should be made even cheaper because there are actually much fewer roads. EMsia does not have the beautiful highways that WMsia has. It does not even have 10% of the roads of WMsia so perhaps the road tax tariff should be restructured on the basis of developed roads? Being in the capital city of Kota Kinabalu is like KL in the 1950’s-but I love Sabah for its tranquility and people and I won’t swap this for KL’s “sophistication” and rude people! Unless you understand Sabah, you will not know what you are missing!
U got roads? I thought pipu this side says ur side travel by tarzan?
Internetz on this side is a LIE!!!
Ive been living in borneo. The reason is simple, people are poorer here. Kancils and wiras are the most common cars here, the best will be low spec vios J’s.
Electricity, water, and food are also very cheap here. However they keep everyone out with their immigration rules, thats the bone they got in return for giving away all their oil and natural resources. Bad deal, but they are non the wiser.
To those that complain why are they charging on displacement and complaining that road are the same, you would be lying to say that your 1.5 vios is consuming the same amount of fuel per litre per 100km as my 2.5l truck just saying you dumb as a rock sure you can argue that your 1.0 kancil is consuming as much fuel as a 2.0 civic or the civic saves more but kancil has outdated technology why you comparing the technology where we came from to the technology of where we are at? Its like comparing dial up internet to fibre optic or 4g internet speed, get my point? You want fair comparison compare latest to the latest dumbass. Now to the road you say we should be charged more. Bro its easy to talk when you can drive from PJ to Penang in one day and i still dont understand why ya’ll pussies complain? You have RnR every damn 10km, 3 lanes or 2 lanes minimum you can literally cut slow drivers anytime while we have to piss in jungle and dont talk about truck drivers on going up the mount everest, you want to end your life go ahead cut the truck. Plus 5 hours to penang is easy when you barely move the steering wheel just saying our road is twisty and ya’ll aint prepared for that. But im not saying sarawak/sabah road is good nor its bad but what i can say is we east Malaysian are grateful to even have road that leads to our house instead of having to go through mud. Be grateful you have proper highway and proper highway system. Be a smart malaysian not the one that just bash on the keyboard without researching.
“As for vehicles that are registered in East Malaysia, but driven in the Peninsular, he explained that there is no issue if you don’t get into an accident. If you do, there is a possibility the insurance company will not bear the costs, and you will be unable to claim anything.”
Then why they written in the insurance policy paper, area covered is Entire Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei ?
Nothing really matters. When cars in this country as expensive as fxck, road tax doesn’t really matter.
Tax the rich no problemo
kalau tak sebab berita roll royce kena tahan beberapa hari lepas sebab guna roadtax sarawak yg lebih murah…semua orang x tahu hal ni?
Why should the east Malaysia vehicles driven in West Malaysia need to inform the JPJ. This is given JPJ another option to ask for bride. If additional road tax/fee need to be paid by the road user, simply create an online platform and let the road user register their vehicle and pay the fees online. Can we just get rid of kampong style way of doing things and move into modern digital tech. Government likes to work in kampong style cos they can have all means to ask for bride and not because of the city guys wanna to offer bride.
Government ain’t not stupid and they simply do not want high techs. Another scenario is our toll payment system, create long queue during the festive season and yet still keep ignorance.