HYDERABAD: Owners of vehicles, seized during the lockdown for different violations, may have to cough up a large sum on restoration as cars and heavy vehicles were bound to be returned with serious damage caused by lack of use, experts said. While police are allowed to seize vehicles for violations, there are no guidelines to ensure their maintenance.
Telangana High Court Advocate Chandrasen Reddy said the police have no option but to seize vehicles as people were misusing the lockdown exemptions. “Owners should understand that if their vehicle is seized, it’s maintenance will be affected and the monetary consequences will be bigger,” he said. If parked for a long time, vehicles are at a risk of rat attack — rats chew on the electrical cabling system, get stuck in the AC network and die. This damages the vehicle’s entire AC system.
According to automobile experts, a vehicle, if not in use for long, should be started and its engine kept on for at least five minutes once in a while. This prevents the batteries from drying up. Santosh Choudhary, an executive of luxury automobile manufacturer Mercedes, said the problems with diesel variants is much higher than petrol variants. Also, the luxurious the vehicle is, more are the complications, he said. “Any vehicle, if it has to be in top condition, has to be started and moved in to-and-fro motion. The frequency of this varies from small to high-end luxury cars. Once in 10 days is enough for small cars, but the high-end ones and SUVs need this once in three days at least,” Choudhary said.
Industry experts said battery failure can harm the vehicle dynamo and alternator. It also thickens the engine oil, which will affect the vehicles functioning and create abnormal noise while running. While battery drying can be avoided by unplugging cables from the battery terminals, rats cannot be avoided. Also, if not used for long, the vehicle’s body rusts and the wheels get affected. Meanwhile, DCP Traffic (Cyberabad) SM Vijay Kumar said all seized vehicles were kept at designated locations in safe police custody. “We will see if any more measures can be taken for the vehicles,” he said.
Additional DCP Traffic (Rachakonda) Mohd Tajuddin said vehicles moving without any purpose or crossing the mandatory 3-km radius were being seized under Section 188 of the IPC, which is violation of the orders in place. Further, any other violations such as improper number plate, no insurance, helmet, triple riding and others as per the Motor Vehicle Act are also applied. “These vehicles would be disposed of as per the law once the lockdown is lifted,” he said.