Hundreds of cars with foreign, diplomatic registration plates are being sold at low prices in many auto salons across Vietnam due to the new policy that is tightening control over them.

According to the owners, the taxes and fines they have to pay in order to carry out the transfer procedures and get new number plates cost more than a similar car with a normal number plate. Therefore, they cannot sell them because no one wants to buy, they cannot drive them because they will be punished, and they cannot just keep them at home.

Dumping them, ASAP

It is easy to find people selling foreign and diplomatic cars on websites and newspapers, like the “2008 Black BMW X6 with diplomatic number plate selling at US$43, 000”, or “Selling urgently car with diplomatic number plate: 2009 Black Lexus LX570, 7 seats with automatic transmission, only 5,000 km driven”.

A car broker in Quang Ninh Province said that there are many luxury foreign and diplomatic cars being sold at very low prices, such as a white 2011 Porsche Panamera 4S, costing only US$78,000, and a 2011 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, costing US$71,000. “These prices are as much as half of their usual price in auto salons”, the broker said.

Car owners don’t want to spend money for taxes, so they have asked brokers and retailers to sell their cars.

“It is a black 2004 Mercedes - Benz S350, only driven 80,000 kilometers, and even has transfer documents with a fake name for the buyer, costs only US$27,000”, a retailer told a journalist.

“It is a cheap price. You will only need to pay US$10,000 to 15,000 more for the transfer procedure”, he pressed.

Sell it or keep it?

N., the owner of a 2007 Lamborghini and a 2009 Mercedes S500, both of which have diplomatic number plates, spent almost US$50,000, in addition to most of the cost of the cars, to be able to buy these under diplomatic rights. “According to the new policy, for example, I have to pay 15 percent of the registration tax at first, an excise tax based on my car’s current value, which is 85 percent of a new one, and the VAT tax for my Lamborghini. As a result, the total fee will be up to US$300,000, while a similar one with a normal local number plate costs only US$220,000.

I cannot just keep them at home, I cannot drive them, and I cannot sell them because no one wants to buy such cars in this situation. Therefore, I will continue to drive them until June 10th under the hope that the authorities will change their policy”, he sighed.

All such owners are hoping that the new rule for a second vehicle will reduce transfer fees by two percent and the cars’ remaining value by 50 percent. Therefore, taxes will decrease significantly.

To be strictly punished

According to Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Tran Thanh Tra, a road and railway police office (PC67) chief, 17 foreign and diplomatic cars have been seized thanks to expired technical safety and environmental protection inspection stamps, breaking transfer procedure rules, and not abiding the revocation of vehicle registration and number plates as prescribed.

Car owners who break such rules have their vehicles confiscated while the authorities announce their decision to revoke their number plates and certificates. After showing papers certifying that they have revoked the plate and are paying fines, the owners will get them back.

In case the owners of cars which have expired foreign and diplomatic number plates cannot be identified, the drivers and the people named in the registration will have to give statements, which will be investigated by competent authorities.

At the end of last month, an official document guiding the treatment of cars with foreign and diplomatic number plates which are transferred and used illegally was sent to the Department of Customs and Taxation.

According to this document, every owner making transfer procedure after June 10^th will be punished strictly. This means owners only have a few days left to fulfill the procedure. Otherwise, their cars will be listed as illegally imported cars and will probably be confiscated.

The document also guides local authorities in calculating taxes when the cars are transferred, as well as in estimating the remaining value of cars for taxes.