Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) system will settle clone car issue: RTD

WANGSA MAJU: The Road Transport Department (RTD) expects the ongoing issue of clone cars in the country to be put to bed once the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) system is implemented later this year.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad said the implementation was vital as despite JPJ already confiscated 1,708 clone cars since the end of 2014 to date, there are still over 3,000 cars roaming the country presently.
"I can't give an accurate figure, but roughly there are between 3,000 to 5,000 clone cars still on the road.
"But this issue is only temporary. When the VEP is implemented, I think the issue of clone will be settled," he told reporters after attending the 70th JPJ Day Kuala Lumpur city level here, today.
Ismail said the system, once implemented, would also see foreign vehicles that are compounded in the country being barred from leaving and returning to their home countries, unless the summons were settled.
He added that the VEP would be done in phases, with the first one to be implemented by year end for vehicles entering from Singapore, while phase two (Thailand) and three (Sabah, Sarawak and Indonesia).
Ismail said ever since they started their operations against clone cars in 2014, aided by the department's Special Elite Force, the clone car activities have slowed.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi had, on April 25 at the Dewan Negara, said the VEP system would see a RM20 charge per entry for each foreign vehicle.
He was quoted saying that the system will serve as a medium to record details of vehicle owners from Singapore and a medium to monitor overstaying Singaporeans here and curb cloning of vehicles.
The system is set to be implemented at the two border crossings with Singapore - the Causeway and the Second Link - for phase one, with each vehicle owner to get a radio-frequency identification card and a RM10 administration fee.