A car customisation trend has caught on of late, and is becoming more common – “body wrap” or full body stickers that effectively gives the car a new colour, whether gloss or matte. Some wraps even give the car a livery, and some cars become a canvas for airbrushed art. The limits are endless, really.
But is the practice legal in the eyes of the authorities? We pose the main question (and some supplementary ones) to the director of the JPJ’s automotive engineering department, Datuk Mohamad Dalib.
Yes, it’s legal, provided the new colour is declared to JPJ. “The first thing that needs to be put clear is: are these vehicles declared (to JPJ) after the colour change? Every change to a vehicle has to be reported to the nearest JPJ office within seven days. If it is declared, it doesn’t matter what colour is used,” he explained.
Now, how does one declare his car’s new colour? Owners will need to furnish a notice letter on the colour change, along with the vehicle’s original registration card (geran), to JPJ for the department to update its records. If the owner uses a representative or runner, an extra verification letter is needed. It is better for the owner to show up himself. More info on the declaration process can be found at JPJ offices.
If the car’s new skin is multi-coloured or has various tones, which colour should the owner declare? The key is to determine the dominant colour, one that covers 60% of the car body. Each time a car “changes its skin”, it has to be declared to JPJ. Matte and chrome wraps are also legal, but there’s a question of whether the latter is safe, such as when sunlight reflects off the surface.
What if the owner fails to declare the new colour of his car? According to Mohamad Dalib, this is illegal and will only inconvenience the owner. “For example, if your car gets an AES summons and your car colour differs from the colour listed in JPJ’s records, you will be waiting for two summonses – one for speeding and another for changing the colour of your car without permission.”
Another potential problem is with insurance. “If a car gets into an accident, and the insurance company finds out that the car’s colour is different from the original colour, there’s a big possibility that it won’t bear the costs involved,” the JPJ man added.
So there you have it, a green light from the JPJ. Go ahead and personalise your ride, but remember to declare your car’s flashy new colour with the authorities.
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What about those crazy multi tone rainbow color.
Let me advise the youngsters:
1. Do not illegally modify or extend your houses, because when the houses are hangus, you may get nothing from insurance companies. (and you still have housing loan to pay monthly, and you cannot afford to quickly get a second home to stay. Don’t feel so secured that you have finally get your own house and no longer need to worry about annual 10% increase in house price, and you can do anything to your own house/homes, unless you have three luxurious homes)
2. Do not illegally modify your vehicles, including the colours, as insurance companies will have reasons not to pay you/your victims when you are involved in accidents.
Imagine if you modify the engine/colour of your Proton Wira, and you knock on somebody and you kill him, you will be in big big trouble when the insurance company refuses to cover your liability. In a smaller scale, if you kiss my Mercedes/BMW and you are not covered by insurance, you know how much you will have to pay me? And how much you will have to pay for your own vehicle repair?
Don’t ‘syiok sendiri’ with false sense of security, thinking that you can do anything and there is your insurance company to pay.
You can do whatever you want to your car or house. You just have to declare it.
For further modifications, you’ll have to get permission before you do it
His point is dont make illegal changes la
I still confuse. The color modification need to declare before or after? This should done by the paint/warp shop people right? Why still want to hesitate us to do so much things while we pay a lot of money on those sticker.
If it’s a wrap then you can just remove it and just say it wasn’t you speeding in the AES picture. lol
AES can capture ur mugshot and put it to Wanted poster
Unless you changed your number plate, chassis & engine number, and had plastic surgery before being caught by the AES. Only to revert after, I don’t think this method will fly.
This is for John & Dean. Have any of U received summons from AES B4 commenting here or not ?! I’ve received 2 last year with only the registration no. time, date, place & speed.
The PHOTO in the summon cannot identify my face bcos its not clear enough to be identified. The camera is probably of lower resolutions & it is mainly used to record speed as its main purpose.
This is mainly the main contention why its not enforceable in court. Check on the AES forum & you can tell not many paid especially in Selangor where they are advised not to pay.
Harap Datuk Dalib JPJ, bolih siasat & tangkap sindiket Cloned kete babit orang dalam JPJ dulu.
Already la….dont read newspaper lately ka? JPJ clerk with husband already tangkap lor, now in court for cloned car cases
concern is with the wraps…like the movie “Taxi”…can be used to do bad stuff but then wrap peeled off quickly…
If we change the color of the car and make the necessary process at JPJ, do we have to notify the insurance company as well?
Yes, some changes requires puspakom approval as well (suspension, muffler, widen tyres, large spoilers or large bodykits, dashboard changes and etc…) before insurance company will approve, it will also affect your premium price.
Basically, eg process; change wide low profile tyre > puspakom test to see if it affects car performance, if make car worse then reject, if performance unchanged or better then officer approve > JPJ check documentations, if puspakom approves, test is good, installation is good then officer approve, if not they reject > insurance check both puspakom and jpj if all good and car is safe then approve, if not then they wont cover. If all good, safe or safer and legal then you’re all good and covered in case of an accident, fire or theft. The premium might change to cover the added aftermarket parts as well, so if anything goes south then they will pay you for everything that they had documented.
Overall it sounds straightforward but it’s tedious, eg; Photo the entire installation process and compile them then write them down to document (remove spare tyre compartment to add additional tank, total of 49 double sided pages with 6 photo each page), then have to send to puspakom (not suppose to drive…..), they took days and complain say unsafe or bad engineering car might kemek wrong way and after a month going back and fourth finally got approved, then send to JPJ and went back and fourth again, they say Puspakom missed this and that and another month passed only finally got JPJ approved, finally insurance say JPJ remark car might not be as safe as original so they changed my coverage and now i pay less premium but covered up to max 60% only.
Personally I’ll only do it again if it’s a major MAJOR kind of mod like tune car to 1000bhp with race mod or something insane, because since an additional tank was so tedious then might as well make the effort worthwhile. Just my experience and two cents.
PS. I don’t understand the puspakom, JPJ and insurance pricing scheme so I cant comment on how much it will cost you to get your mod legal. The extra tank cost RM1200 in total (minus installation and tank) to get it legalized.
Dear Got experience,
Thanks for the reply. It was very informative.
I’m thinking of repainting my Tank (it’s a naza ria btw ^_^). You know, a little rust here and there, peeling paints. Am thinking about changing the color to keep it fresh.
I think that is fair enough that the JPJ gives permission for us to customize our cars.Regarding the declaration of colour changes to JPJ, I know there are forms to be filled but how does the procedure goes?Does it take a long time to do? or can be done in matter of minutes?I think the reason people are reluctant to declare maybe because of the hassle involved.You know going to JPJ office which may be far or there are just too many people.I wouldn’t mind to declare if it’s not too much of a hassle.
Please read 4th paragraph. Adoi
Changing the car’s color is not a hassle but declaring it to the authorities is too much of a hassle. Hmmmm….
It is not a hassle process. Just go to the JPJ office with your grant and the officer will look at your car, using his pen slash the original colour and write down the new colour. He stamped and sign. Selesai. I’ve done it before. The whole process take about less than 10 minutes.
if u want to wrap ur car, u need to think about all the processes involved. if the process of wrapping the car takes 1 day, and going to JPJ takes 1 day, u need to think whether spending 2 days of ur life is worth it to wrap ur car.
if u think its not worth it, then dont wrap. easy.
Honestly, in this day and age, all this crap should be able to be done online. Snap & upload pic – update online form – receive confirmation email, and voila. Najib has a damn app, these guys can’t even set up a rudimentary e-documentation system?! Queuing up for anything in ANY government office is the major hassle, not the procedure itself.
Imagine if someone hit your car during an accident and you reported wrong color because he wrapped it in other color, what will happen then?
Does it apply to motorcycle too?
That metallic chrome looking Iriz looks good man. With a set of 17-inch wheels/tires couple with all the spoilers, it is a sure standout among crowds.
Thanks to JPJ/Datuk Mohamad Dalib for clarifying on how to legalize body wraps/changing colors in our vehicles.
I’m thinking serious reflective glare coming of that thing in bright sunlight. Unless the finish is set to not mirror so much. Might be cause for concern.
JPJ is fine but insurance companies will scrutinize on that
Radanya outdated bab ni.
Here’s a serious question.. What if, for example, I would retain the color of my car but had decided to put on colorful stickers/livery on some parts of the car? Maybe around the hood, doors, and top? How should I define the changes if I wanted to declare it to the authorities? Please help.
And is it the same applied to if I were to airbrush my car? With TONS of colours and not just dual/triple tone.
Thanks.
Did u missed “60% dominant colour”?
Main question: Will a car’s color differs from original color caused hazard to traffic?
no hazard on traffic but hazard when the car get stolen and used for bad things
No. Any colour will not be hazourdous to other road users. Unless, you opt for Chrome or mirror finish wraps that reflects sun light to an extent it could blind other drivers.
SAY NO TO CHROME(ANY COLOR WITH DEFLECTIVE COATS) WRAPS! GOV must ban them! they are sickening reflective that can blinds other road users! OR at least only allow bottom part of vehicle.
It is because you are having an illegally modded bright white HID lights on your car, that is why you are blinding your ownself. Serve you right then.
Lolz! After ur explanation, im think of chroming my car as well. Gip those ah beng HIDs a serving of their own medicine.
My advice is don’t look for fights on the road. It is very silly. The roads are made for commuting.
actually not just HID. sometimes in bright daylight the chrome / deflective coats can really be blinding when it reflects the sun shine.
I don’t need HID for some fool in a chrome Kancil to blind me with reflected sunlight. This is Malaysia, we get a lot of Sun.
It states that you need to declare the dominant colour to JPJ (60% coverage of body). Let’s say the wrap is 50/50 with 2 colours leh? Or 25/25/25/25 with 4 colours. Then how ah
Id say any colour that you would consider dominant over the other. Think about it, would you really have a line going through the centre of the B-Pillar from the roof to the floor? Where front is blue and back is red? If so, wouldnt the front be more dominant since you are including the hood compared to a smaller hatchback or boot?
Unless you are really trying to heat them up by litterally calculating where exactly the centre of the car is and painting 2 sides different hues? Most would end up like Peugeot’s red black series.
easy bro. u just choose 41 colors for ur car. 1 color cover 60%. 1% for each other color (1% X 40 colors). there u have it. 41 colors & still legal. geddit?
MAximum colour allow = 3 colours only.
if you have rainbow colours, just declare it’s white. all 7 colours mixed they become white, legit.
I dunno but I’m sure you have very bad taste in car color.
what if the new color stays in the same variant. like from original brown to light or darker brown. do we still have to declare? because in the green card will just put brown.
No. I dont think different tones of colour would require a change. Its not like they have universal colour code written on the Geran. Its just HITAM, HIJAU, MERAH, SILVER.
How bout side airbrush of anime characters on your doors and fender?
Itasha?
What if car is purchased used, and colour does not match geran, is it buyer fault?
Puspakom wud not have passed in the 1st place, for the transaction to be completed.
the car is essentially the same color. wraps can been peeled off when making insurance claims.
How about for dashboard? No need to declare to JPJ i guess…