Owners of luxury vehicles are allegedly choosing not to renew their road tax and insurance because the fines are cheaper, according to a senior lawyer. As reported by NST (citing Bernama and Berita Harian, Muhammad Hasif Hasan was told by a product founder that it was more cost-effective to pay a maximum fine of RM3,000 for not having the required documents compared to paying thousands of ringgit needed to renew a vehicle’s road tax and insurance.
This comes after the road transport department (JPJ) conducted Ops Luxury and Ops Luxury 2.0 in recent months, which saw over 150 luxury vehicles seized for various offences, most of which involve not having a valid road tax and insurance coverage.
“When I met the individual who has become an ‘orang kena saman‘ (OKS), I asked why they came to court, and the answer was to pay a fine on road tax and insurance,” Muhammad Hasif told Berita Harian.
“The person explained that it was better to pay the (at minimum) RM300 fine, as it was cheaper and more worthwhile compared to paying over RM5,000 for road tax and more than RM10,000 for insurance for his continental car. If he just continues driving without road tax and insurance and gets fined, the maximum is only RM3,000. It’s more worth it,” he added.
“If he were to get into an accident and hit a member of the public while having no vehicle insurance coverage, the victim or their family would not be able to make any claims. In the end, they would have to bear all court and medical costs themselves,” Muhammad Hasif pointed out.
“Legal costs can reach up to RM10,000 to RM40,000, excluding medical and other court costs. In fact, even if they win the case, there’s no guarantee they will receive the compensation money,” he continued.
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