There will be no mandatory car scrap policy for aged vehicles but there will be new format to make sure they remain ROADWORTHY. This is according to our quick preview of the NAP 2020.
This is perhaps the best middle-ground approach. The Pakatan Harapan government cannot afford to enact and enforce an unpopular scheme like mandatory car scrapping. This is because many B40 and some M40 can’t afford to replace their trusty old cars with something new and overpriced. Some of us don’t like the prospect of being tied down to long term hire purchase commitments and even a well-implemented mandatory car scrapping scheme would look bad to the Rakyat.
The question is, how will the government ensure roadworthiness? Currently, Puspakom carries out a basic check for chassis damage during ownership transfer. So if an owner of a hazardous vehicle decides to continue to run his vehicle without selling it, there’s no way for Puspakom to become involved as things stand.
Perhaps the government will make it so that every year or 3 years, cars above a certain age must carry out a Puspakom inspection before road tax renewal. Perhaps insurance companies will incentivise this as well, as it obviously helps them manage risk better.
Or maybe the government will engage with an external agency to carry out basic multi-point inspections that combine OBD2 and visual inspections. We know a number of startups like MyTukar, MUV and others already offer similar services upon selling or buying cars. The question is whether a new entity will be created for this function, or if an existing entity like Puspakom can do it.
As someone who exclusively owned and ran nothing but 24-30 year old vehicles in the last 5 years, I’m relieved to hear I can continue to run my old Honda. But let’s just hope they do this roadworthiness test correctly and objectively.
