VIJAYAWADA: Following the recent Supreme Court orders, the Road Transport Authority (RTA) in the State has passed a mandate that vehicles purchased after September 1 should be registered only if the buyers avail a third party premium from the insurance companies. However, with poor communication from vehicle dealers over the court orders, several people preferring to purchase high-end bikes and cars through finance facility from various institutions are changing their plans as the premium was hiked depending upon their cc.
Till August 31, the insurance companies provided comprehensive premium in which the vehicle users got insurance coverage if their vehicle was stolen or damaged in an accident.In third party insurance premium, the vehicle users will get insurance coverage if their vehicle gets lost or in case damage is caused to a third-party vehicle in an accident caused by a policyholder.
“I thought I would buy a car for operating it as taxi and I had `2 lakh. I planned to pay the rest of the amount through finance. With the new orders, buying new vehicles by paying `24,000 under third party premium in addition to the life tax is a herculean task. Amendments should be made by the Centre to make the premium affordable for the common man,’’ D Anjaiah, a car driver said.
Krishna district has around 11.6 lakh two-wheelers and 1.23 lakh cars. “However, majority of the vehicle users have no insurance cover. With Supreme Court orders, third party insurance cover for new cars is mandate for a period of three years and for two-wheelers it is five years. With this, the prospective vehicle buyers have to pay at least `24,000 for new cars and `13,000 for new two-wheelers,” a representative of an insurance company said.
“Instructions were given to the vehicle dealers in the city and across the district to register vehicles only for the buyers who get third party premium from the insurance companies,” said Deputy Transport Commissioner E Meera Prasad. If the vehicle dealers failed to provide third party insurance premium for new vehicle users, action will be taken against them, he added.