Monday November 2, 2009
Old Beetle owners want Govt to scrap mandatory inspection rule
By DERRICK VINESH
BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Volkswagen Owners Club is calling on the Government to scrap the mandatory roadworthiness inspection for vehicles aged 15 years or older.
Such inspections, conducted before the road tax renewal, were unnecessary as many owners kept their vehicles in tip-top condition, said club adviser Alham Yusoff, 55.
“It is very cumbersome for us to queue up at Puspakom every year to have our vehicles checked.
Lovebug lovers: Penang Volkswagen Owners Club members appealing to the government to review the rule to exempt their cars in Penang yesterday. “Sometimes, it can take us the whole day before our cars are inspected,” he told reporters at a gathering of about 30 Volkswagen owners in Robina Park, Teluk Air Tawar, here yesterday.
Alham said owners of old vehicles already faced problems of having to shop around for third party insurance coverage as not many companies were keen on insuring old vehicles.
He said there were at least 5,000 Volkswagen cars on Malaysian roads, of which about 2,000 were registered with Volkswagen clubs in different states.
Most of the Volkswagen models were of the classic types that were below 50-years-old, he said.
Club member Geoffrey Gan, 56, said he would usually spend a few thousand ringgit on annual maintenance of his two Volkswagen 1970 and 1972 models.
“Some of us have driven our Beetles around Malaysia and Thailand, while a few have driven theirs to Kunming, China without any incident or breaking down.”
Retired Telekom Malaysia technician A. Pooniahmurthi, 69, said most of the old vehicle owners were retirees and pensioners.
“It will be a burden for us to incur the RM40 inspection charge,” Pooniahmurthi said.
Club treasurer Rashidi Abu Bakar, 41, said the Government should consider allowing other agencies or companies to conduct roadworthiness inspections to ease congestion at Puspakom branches.
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