Chennai, June 23: Vehicle owners in Tamil Nadu seeking preferred registration numbers may soon face steep fees. The state government has proposed a substantial revision of the fee structure, introducing a new premium category that could cost up to 8 lakh rupees for future registration series.
This proposal is part of a draft amendment to the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, published in the extraordinary gazette on June 19. It marks the first major revision in registration number fees since 2012, aiming to enhance the existing system that governs reserved registration numbers.
Under the current system, registration numbers are allocated randomly during vehicle registration. Owners wishing to obtain a specific number from the ongoing series of 1,000 can apply through the Regional Transport Office (RTO) by paying a set fee.
The draft amendment proposes a significant increase in fees for obtaining registration numbers in upcoming series. Under the new rules, the fee for preferred numbers in the current series and the next three series will double.
According to the proposal, vehicle owners seeking numbers from the fifth to eighth series will need to pay 1.2 lakh rupees. For numbers in the ninth and tenth series, the fee will rise to 2 lakh rupees, while those in the eleventh and twelfth series will cost 4 lakh rupees.
A new category introduced by the government will impose a premium fee of 8 lakh rupees on registration numbers from the thirteenth and fourteenth upcoming series, making them the most expensive under the proposed framework.
The government also plans to replace the current flat-rate system for fancy registration numbers allocated through the RTO with a value-based fee structure linked to the vehicle’s cost. For two-wheelers and three-wheelers, fees will range from 2,000 rupees for vehicles valued up to 50,000 rupees to 1 lakh rupees for those exceeding 30 lakh rupees.
The revised structure aims to ensure that owners of higher-value vehicles pay proportionately more for preferred registration numbers. Imported vehicles will also fall under a slab-based fee system.
Proposed fees for imported vehicles will range from 20,000 rupees for those valued up to 4 lakh rupees to 1.5 lakh rupees for vehicles exceeding 50 lakh rupees, compared to the current fees of 1,000 to 16,000 rupees.
The draft regulations stipulate that state government approval will be mandatory for the allocation of future series and government-reserved fancy numbers. The proposed changes are expected to generate additional revenue while also regulating the rising demand for premium registration numbers in the state.
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