Can You ‘Convert Old Car To New Car Shape’ And Escape Delhi Diesel Ban: We Explain!

As you know, diesel cars older than 10 years are banned in Delhi NCR. So many people who own such vehicles are trying to find ways to save their vehicles from seizure by authorities. One of the most clever ways that has been found by such owners is to convert their older vehicles into newer vehicles of the current generation. This helps them avoid getting their vehicles stopped and checked, and they avoid seizure. However, yesterday we shared a video where an old Type 1 Toyota Fortuner, which was converted into a Legender, was seized by authorities.

 

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Can you escape the old car ban by converting your car?

Until yesterday, many people thought that the best way to circumvent this 10-year-old diesel car ban was to convert their car from old to new shape. However, after the seizure of a seemingly converted Fortuner, many people are now reevaluating this thought. If you are one of those people who are on the fence about converting your old car into a new one, here is an explanation as to why this is a bad idea.

Your vehicle will eventually get seized

Today you might find an aftermarket shop that will lure you into converting your old car into a new shape for cheap. The shop will say that the police authorities won’t be able to find out that your car is old as it will look brand new from the outside. However, we can tell you that the police authorities may not stop you in the beginning.

But if someday your vehicle gets stopped by the authorities at any checkpoint, and they ask you to provide the registration certificate, it will be then that you’ll find that your vehicle will be immediately seized without any warning. This most likely will be a very scary situation for you as an owner.

With such old-to-new shape conversions, you can only change the appearance of the vehicle. You won’t be able to alter the details of the registration certificate. Once your registration certificate reveals the actual date of registration of your older-than-10-years diesel vehicle, there will be nothing that you’d be able to do to stop the seizure.

The bottom line is that such old-to-new conversions are illegal. The Indian Motor Vehicles Act does not allow any alterations to the exterior of a vehicle without proper approvals. In such cases, no approval can be had. So even if you proceed with such conversions, it is just a matter of time before you get caught.

Cost of such conversions

If you have a Toyota Fortuner Type 1 or Type 2 which you are looking to get converted into a Type 3 or Legender model, it will generally cost you around Rs 2.5-3 lakh. However, some shops that provide shoddy work quality will even promise you that they can do this under Rs 1 lakh as well.

However, we can tell you that once this job is done and your vehicle still gets seized, you’ll regret the decision of spending extra money on the car which you already could not have saved.

So what’s the solution?

As hard as it may be for you, the only and the best solution to avoid seizure of your older diesel car is to sell it beforehand. We recommend that once you know that your vehicle has only a year or less time before it gets banned, you start finding buyers for this vehicle from outside the Delhi NCR.

This way, you will have the time to sell your car to buyers from other states where this rule has not been implemented. Apart from this, there is not much that anyone can do to save their vehicles from this ban.