The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) wants the rising trend of car registration numbers being traded for big bucks outside the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to be restricted. It suggested an establishment of a task force to tackle the issue.
The association’s deputy president, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, stated that various parties have turned the bidding into a business, resulting in the issue arising. “Although the system works for the highest bidder, most times, these numbers have already been pre-booked by agents and runners. This is unfair to those who really want the number and would like to buy it from JPJ directly,” he said.
“It’s understandable to have an agent or a runner if the number requested is an old number dating months or years back. But to apply this practice for new registration numbers is unfair and unnecessary,” he added.
Meanwhile, president of The Consumers’ Association of Subang and Shah Alam (Selangor), Jacob George, suggested that the task force be made up of independent members. “Years ago, the selling of numbers like this was done in secret. Now, it is openly done,” he claimed.
On the other hand, Consumers Association Penang (CAP) however thinks a task force is unnecessary, as the matter should be wholly handled by the JPJ. Its president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the JPJ should not even be selling number plates in the first place, and that people should be putting their money elsewhere instead of number plates.
The JPJ, however, has come out to say that it can do nothing to stop bidders who flip these registration numbers by purchasing and then later, reselling them at higher prices to vehicle owners. “We do not pick and choose the people we sell the numbers to. So, the hoarding of registration number plates and reselling is not illegal,” said a JPJ spokesman.
He explained that the highest bidder would get the number plate following the procedure, which begins with the JPJ putting up the number plate for bidding with a minimum price tag. Prices start at RM300 for popular numbers, while the more enticing ones begin from the RM2,000 mark. The highly desirable numbers – single digit numbers and 10 – will have their bidding prices start from RM10,000.
From there, the bidding process begins, with the JPJ looking into the records of the bidders. “If the bidders are from companies, we will make sure they have a valid registration and are not foreign companies,” the spokesman stated.
“Once the bidder has been confirmed, they need to pay 50% of the amount. After the money is collected, we will open the tender box and rank it,” he continued. The successful bidder will have to make the full payment to the JPJ within a month or risk having the number plate withdrawn.
From then on, buyers have the right to sell the registration numbers to others at a marked-up price. Although the starting prices may appear “reasonable” at first, the bidding process can escalate prices to well over RM100,000 as seen during the announcement of the “BMW” number plate winning tenders.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Should the JPJ set up a task force to curb the growing trend of car registration numbers being made into a big business, or should the matter be left alone? Let us know your thoughts on the topic below.
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This number plates if all bull. So many prebooked by UMNO cronies and given FREE. Then they sell these number plates after a few years, making a good untung.
These number tenders are like AP permits. Give to certain people, they are so lazy to do any business venture, they sell for free profit.
JPJ has no transparency. It is mega corrupted. Every one of us has seen the cowboys in the field in action. Always asking for money. If those cowboys are corrupted, the big guns in JPJ handling tender of numbers are similarly corrupted.
JPJ, please clean up your organisation. Kotor gila. Every lorry in town got to pay duit kopi to your officers!
It is all about money.
no effect on RV..
Why must Anggota Pentadbiran Kerajaan need special plate that would have earned the govt $100,000+
And is given to them free? These are luxury items, they are govt SERVANTS.
Don’t talk nonsense lah….
There are groups of people who buy these numbers thru tenders then sell to rich people who desperately want to match their house number to their car number.
It is a business venture and everybody seems to be happy except for killjoys. If you don’t have the money to buy these numbers then just shut up and get the running number
This one, completely agree. Corrupt JPJ officers should be reported, penalized, and banned from ever serving government bodies.
BUT, if individuals still offer kopi money, then nothing will happen, right? Willing buyer, willing seller.
Hello JPJ, so many Bentleys in Klang Valley just pay RM3000 road tax when their real road tax is RM19,000 for 6750 CC
The same with all the big CC cars. So many S350 Mercedes also doing the same.
They all use Sabah and Sarawak road tax. I have seen about 10 Bentleys in Bangsar the past year, everyone just pays RM3000.
This deprives the Government of hundreds of millions. There are thousands of cars in Semenanjung doing this. All condoned and done by the AP holder himself who gets a runner to do this for his clients.
This the JPJ got no balls to sort out. Thousands of cars, each cheating the Government about RM15,000 each.
Come on JPJ. you all know about this issue but takut. Cause the Bentley owners and the Ferrari owners are all Datuks and Tan Sris.
why my vehicle has no value @ RM0.00 road tax?
oh, i forgot. i am driving ambulance.
stupid joke la
Continue to sell tender numbers, don’t stop; the one to stop is tender numbers by runners who buy numbers at rm300
Continue to sell tender numbers, don’t stop; the one to stop is tender numbers by runners who buy numbers at rm300 and sell it at beribu-ribu ringgit and they do not pay income tax honestly.
In short, please continue selling tender numbers but the money must go to JPJ or official authorities.
Let the market force do their magic .
Willing buyer , willing seller , people who can fork out big money for a number plate are rich anyway . It is time for rich people to share their “resources” ( money )
I will just take whatever number JPJ assigned to me.
Stop the BN cronies monopoly corruption, and start showing transparency to Rakyat ! OR continue until 2020 Malaysia will be next Bangalasia thanks to brilliant ministry. Rakyat please wakeup !!!
Just say la if want to songlap…
So called”we are not choosing the person who bidding the no plate ” is bullshit
All ppl know how u all run ur business
It’s an open secret that all these runners pakat with internal JPJ officers to get desired numbers and sell off and share the spoils. Nowadays you can’t personally go to JPJ to change number/register number cause all the runners have special arrangement that will cut queue and individuals waiting for their turn will be waiting like dungus
“..it can do nothing to stop bidders who flip these registration numbers by purchasing and then later, reselling them at higher prices to vehicle owners.” Yes you can stop the flipping JPJ. Don’t allow successful bidders to transfer the reg number to another party.
LCW has 14 samans for cars registered under his name…lol … PT pls be careful when you post Ic numbers.
those people who thought this numbers will bring them luck should go see the doctor. numbers are just numbers and all these superstitions begins with the chinese.
Are you chinese Ben “YAP”?? or you cannot even afford to buy your favorite numbers that is why u bising bising here…
Superstitious or not, your car will definitely less attractive in the second hand market should your number are, for example, 9394 or 5354. Hence lower RV.
Feng Shui or not, if some one just kept mentioning your number in cantonese, as long as there are cantonese listeners near by (which there is at least one – the speaker), it sounds horrible, and that creates negative aura.
Just like you stay in a hall (for hours) full of cry babies vs laughing babies. 100% confirm the laughing hall will be many times happier, while the one in the crying hall will be the one going to mental hospital. Superstitions!
Otherwise you can just random the number and keep it to yourself.
Let market forces decide. But regulate it by making sure all the money goes back to the govt. How?
1) No transfer of registration number. A vehicle must be registered to it before any transfer can be executed.
2) A number must be registered to a vehicle within a certain time frame, say 1 year.
3) Tender process must be open and transparent.
Ini negara songlap, sanglap budaya kita, songlap amalan kita, songlap prinsip kita.
Amalan menjual nombor kereta ni menjana lebih banyak peluang songlap, ini dapat memajukan ekonomi songlap dan poket pemimpin. Oleh sebab itu, dasar songlap negara jangan dipersoal, engkau tak suka engkau keluar dari Malaysia.
SONGLAPLAH DEMI NEGARA TERCINTA
look at the above BMW plate. 4 already taken by the government. how much the rakyat lose from there. i can say those number worth a million.
BMW4 was SOLD for RM70840. So what?
You should be asking how come Sri Sanjeevan Ramakrishnan, who is the Chairman of the Malaysian Crime Watch, can afford RM174776, to pay for BMW8.
JPJ is now effectively a closed service (meaning they operate by themselves, with no-one overlooking their operations – no check & balance for you sir) – thus their frontline staff are doing whatever they like to manipulate the system, bending the rules where necessary, in the name of personal profits. Tenders given to son/daughter/sister/brother/neighbor/ketua kampung, and the general public has almost no chance to obtain such “special” numbers
What? What do you mean JPJ is a closed system? JPJ is answerable to the Ministry of Transportation, which in itself is answerable to the cabinet.
I do not see any harm to this. I do not even understand why this is an issue?
Number plate selling is a first come, first serve business, as declared by JPJ. It is a FOR PROFIT activity. Money from it can be used by JPJ for whatever they deem fit. Why should there be deregulation/regulation about this? If the runners are successful in bidding for the numbers, then so be it. Vain folk who wish to get numbers without ‘4’, well its entirely up to them, isn’t it?
Leave this issue alone, and stop harping over a willing buyer/willing seller situation la, if the buyer loses his bid for a ‘gold’ number, then stop calling sour grapes and shouting conspiracy, and be a man and buy the next freagin number available! Its only because the so called individual is upset and agitated that they couldn’t afford/buy a vain plate number, which is causing all this hoo haa!
And for you, the one jumping on the bandwagon and crying conspiracy! conspiracy! conspiracy!, again, its a willing buyer and willing seller situation. JPJ auctions off a good looking item to some individual. Individual buys it. DONE DEAL.
Why make news of the individual who wanted to buy the said good looking number but couldn’t, the same individual who didn’t get the number had begun to grouse their dissatisfaction, the same individual who made a mountain over a molehill? Its not an issue, its just a capitalist industry, you like the number, you pay for it!
And for those who scream that JPJ gives good looking numbers for free to rich known members of governance, well, so what? JPJ has the authority to give out registration numbers, as they see fit! They can even impound any vehicle that is unfit for road use, like unregistered modified car engines, tyres, bodies. If they wish to do as what they are authorized to do, then it is perfectly legal and fine for them to do so? Why MAKE SO MUCH NOISE about this, when it is clearly okay, in the eyes of the law?
WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD REALLY BE TALKING ABOUT, IS HOW VEHICLES CAN BE REGISTERED AND/OR DRIVEN ON PUBLIC ROADS WITHOUT GOING THROUGH PROPER REGISTRATION AND/OR THROUGH PROPER CHANNELS! This is more important, and poses a more complete risk for road users who are people like you and me. An unsafe vehicle that is illegally registered to be on the road (and you know what I mean if you notice all those industrial vehicles) spewing all sorts of oils, smoke, nuts and bolts on the road, unable to brake at corners, handling like rickety junks, carrying their loads obviously over the allowed limits.
Please folks, make noise when its required. No harm for making money through people’s vanity. Serious harm when bad vehicles fail and endanger lives of innocents on the road.
u dont understand why this is an issue because u dont understand how it works.
1. many vip numbers are prebooked by syndicate. these numbers are not available by open tender. so these syndicates get the number at a low price and resell it to car owners, thus making a profit. if jpj cut out the middleman and directly put every vip number for open market tender, then all the profit would flow directly to jpj/gov instead of going to these dark syndicates.
2. JPJ should not have the authority to give out registration numbers, as they see fit. this is not their organisation to rule as they like without justification. everything should follow law . imagine the millions of ringgit lost that could be used by gov to fund schools and hospitals.
To eliminate such unfair trading: no plate which higher than 8k not allowed to place on the vehicles less than the no. plate value,and 20k and higher should limited to cars only ,not 6k cupchai. Problems solved