[bskumar]

I took my Alto today for renewal of registration at Ernakulam RTO on completion of 15 years. I had Team-BHP stickers on the windshield and on the front bonnet and rear. Windshield and Bonnet stickers were teambhp.com (the old one which i purchased some 5 to 6 years back). The rear one was Live to Drive with teambhp.com written vertical on the left side.
The MVI who inspected my vehicle said that such advertisement stickers of Team BHP are considered as advertisements and need to pay advertisement fee, if it is to be stuck on the vehicle. Or, it should be removed or else fitness will not be given.
Come on, now when private stickers depicting name of children and God are allowed, why not team-bhp? I told him that team-bhp is a forum of car enthusiasts and is just like any other club like Bullet clubs and I had actually purchased the sticker on payment and it is not an advertisement. But, he did not budge. Anyhow, I had decided to remove those old stickers and purchase new set. So, removed those stickers for getting the fitness certificate renewed. What is the actual legal angle in this case?

[Bibendum90949]

In this interview with Joint Transport Commissioner of Kerala MVD, he states stickers and even wraps are allowed and doesn't even need their approval. To watch the video, click the option "Watch this video on You Tube". Watch at 5:08 regarding stickers. But whether it holds good during a fitness renewal I'm not sure. The advertisement part which your MVI stated seems to be true but whether that applies for the sticker of a car club/forum needs to be verified.

https://youtu.be/yqWg6_3zS_Q

[DicKy]

Great.

Creat some noise on social media and they will come with a clarification soon that they only meant advertisements and not personal stickers.
But by then, the damage is done (your stickers are gone).

The MVI guy was just being overzealous. Or maybe since they couldn't find any other fault with you car, hooked onto the stickers for either his work satisfaction or to fill the exchequer.

[Scarlet_Rider]

May be the MVI wouldn't even have noticed the stickers if a RTO broker's services would have been hired for the renewal.

[bskumar]

Originally Posted by Scarlet_Rider

May be the MVI wouldn't even have noticed the stickers if a RTO broker's services would have been hired for the renewal.

That's a different angle to the issue I told. But, what I want to know is the actual legality of Team BHP Stickers. Is it considered advertisement and need to pay advertisement fees to MVD as per Motor Vechicles Act?

[logicalidiot]

As per what I've read before, advertisements on private vehicles require you to obtain permission and pay tax to the govt. But I think the RTO needs to give a clear definition of the word 'advertisement' to determine if it is allowed or not. Does it require a consideration or transaction? Are only brands/companies part of this? If a taxi driver has his phone number behind his car, would this be an advertisement? There are a lot of questions here.

[jkrishnakj]

Every dealer puts their sticker on the car. Each time during service I ensure I let the service centre know that they should not put their company sticker and I’m not here to give them a free advertisement on my car. The sticker is a more commercial one.

The tbhp ones aren’t commercial, like my residential car parking or my office parking stickers.

The Kerala inspector definitely seems to have gone a bit overboard here.

[avira_tk]

This is just a reaction to not using an agent, from my personal experience I'll never go directly to the RTO for anything.

The driving school I spoke to about hypothecation removal said he could have got my papers in 3 days. I spent 9 months and multiple visits to just get the rc back. There's still some other paperwork left.

[lonetraveller89]

Originally Posted by bskumar

Is it considered advertisement and need to pay advertisement fees to MVD as per Motor Vehicles Act?

Truth be told, this is purely at the disposal of the MVD police officer who decides to ruin your day rather than senior officers who address these issues in interviews. The rest, however, depends upon one's temperament and patience after getting fined.

As long as team-bhp stickers are concerned, "You're on your own, kid".

[Axe77]

I am really fed up of the high handedness of persons in any position to authority to say and do anything they want. There needs to be serious accountability for these kind of people. I think people should take videos of them or ask them to state in writing what they are claiming. And if nothing else, publicly shame them and also bring it to attention of the entire department by shaming the entire department.

This is the only way to deal with jokers like these.

[TheGearBox]

What about the stickers that dealers put on cars they sell? "ABC Motors", "XYZ Motors". I abhor having such stickers on my car, but don't they qualify as advertising too? I'm surprised (and relieved) we don't have an "advertising fee" added to the on-road price of the car.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by bskumar

I had Team-BHP stickers on the windshield and on the front bonnet and rear. Windshield and Bonnet stickers were teambhp.com (the old one which i purchased some 5 to 6 years back). The rear one was Live to Drive with teambhp.com written vertical on the left side.

While I don't think they are illegal, I do think that having so many stickers caught the officer's eye. I get pulled over all the time due to media cars coming with red (temporary) plates. All of our TD cars have a single Team-BHP sticker at the rear and never was a question asked about them.

[bskumar]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

This is just a reaction to not using an agent, from my personal experience I'll never go directly to the RTO for anything.

The driving school I spoke to about hypothecation removal said he could have got my papers in 3 days. I spent 9 months and multiple visits to just get the rc back. There's still some other paperwork left.

After the online services were started using the Parivahan website, Kerala RTO offices have changed a lot. Now, it is not required to go through an agent or auto-consultant if one has got minimum computer knowledge to apply online and make the necessary fee payments. Even agents are not allowed to enter inside the offices and they too have to be in the same queue like all.

In the past 6 months, I had visited Ernakulam RTO office 3 times - one hypothecation removal, one DL address change, one RC renewal. Except this incident, I didn't find any victimisation for having gone directly. In this incident too, the MVI was quoting MV Act and was saying that www.team-bhp.com is the ad of a particular website even if it belongs to car enthusiasts. So, unless I pay the required fee for exhibiting such ad, the fitness will not be renewed.

Originally Posted by avira_tk

This is just a reaction to not using an agent, from my personal experience I'll never go directly to the RTO for anything.

The driving school I spoke to about hypothecation removal said he could have got my papers in 3 days. I spent 9 months and multiple visits to just get the rc back. There's still some other paperwork left.

Yes, agree to certain extent that going directly to Bangalore RTOs is time consuming and officers there do victimise us for money. I had one terrible incident while went to Bangalore North RTO for NOC of my two-wheeler. Even now, when all services are made online through Parivahan website, many services of MVD, Karnataka is not fully functional in the website.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by bskumar

After the online services were started using the Parivahan website, Kerala RTO offices have changed a lot. ...
Even now, when all services are made online through Parivahan website, many services of MVD, Karnataka is not fully functional in the website.

Yes, things have improved, but not when there is some exception. Recently, a visit to the local government office would have been wasted is the new payment process was used.

The new system is that once you apply, you pay the fees using card or upi, they'll contact you once the papers are ready. Truth is the money is gone and they'll never contact you. Luckily the internet was down and the fees came to a large denomination plus change, put two large denomination notes plus the change, sir was happy, came out in half an hour with required documents.

There is no use wasting time with online stuff if an agent can fix it. I have to sell my car and of course, I'll be going through an agent.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

There is no use wasting time with online stuff if an agent can fix it. I have to sell my car and of course, I'll be going through an agent.

Online has worked very well for me the past two times (changed two cars in 2018) and even before that with the old manual forms submitting it yourself always worked if you were aware of the procedure.