Can we afford to scrap off 12-year-old cars? BY MAKING A POINT JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU

by **Cals** Mon 25 Nov 2013, 01:39

Published: Saturday November 23, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday November 23, 2013 MYT 7:01:59 AM
Can we afford to scrap off 12-year-old cars?
BY MAKING A POINT JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU

IT was last weekend when what I dread happened to me. In my usual commute to Singapore, my car broke down. It was just 2km away from the Ayer Keroh exit along the North South Expressway where my vehicle came to a halt.
The symptoms prior to my 8-year old car failing on me suggests it was the fault of the alternator. It was confirmed later after the car was repaired. The alternator died on me when the car was less than a year old. And that got me thinking about what has been in the papers recently with calls for the scrapping of cars older than 12 years of age.
I know the plan has been scrapped but it’s not the first time that proposal has been floated. There is a chance lobbyists will try again.
The premise behind that thinking is that cars older than 12 years of age are unsafe. It was reported that the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) found vehicles more than that age are not roadworthy and could pose risks to drivers.
There is some truth to that. Modern cars with their crumple zones and impact beams protect the interior and the occupants better than older cars. It’s down to advance in technology.
As cars get older, they encounter more wear and tear. Statistically, what Miros says is true but the fact is that can be mitigated if regular maintenance and servicing is conducted on vehicles and parts that are important to safety like braking systems and tyres are kept tip top at all times.
The fact that vehicle manufacturers produce spare parts suggests that it is the intention of car manufacturers to have owners of vehicles replace worn out parts when it’s time to do so.
In short, as long as the car is well maintained, it should last and be road worthy for a very long time.
The crux of the backlash against the scrapping proposal was obvious. Vehicle owners found that forcing cars to be scrapped is an undue burden. In fact, end-of-life policies for vehicles are generally seen in more developed and well-off countries. With public transport infrastructure still poor and not adequate in most parts of the country, there really isn’t a better alternative than owning a car for a lot of Malaysians.
With the cost of a car in Malaysia already high because of taxes, more so if the car is not made in Malaysia, people feel that it’s too costly to keep replacing cars every 12 years or so. Surely there would be exemptions to such a rule as the face of that proposal suggests that classic or antique car owners will have to send their prized vehicles to the scrap yard.
One study has shown that the cost of vehicle ownership in Malaysia over say a 7- or 10-year period was actually lower than what most people think.
It was found that the cost of running a car in Malaysia is low after the initial high price of the vehicle as the price of fuel, insurance and cost of maintenance is actually quite low.
But with the price of fuel at the pump set to rise in the future, and with liberalisation of the general insurance industry in the coming years, that means the cost of insuring your vehicle should go up. I doubt liberalisation will mean lower costs of insurance as the industry has been lamenting about how unprofitable motor insurance is. It was reported that motor insurance cost went up from January this year.
Then there is the cost of maintaining your car. With minimum wage now implemented, and with salaries set to go up, surely the labour cost of repairing and maintaing a car will rise too. If the industry is to see the migration of “bawah pokok” workshops to a more structured workshop culture, then that will also mean higher costs.
What can be done to ensure that cars on the road are safe, regulations on mandatory road worthy tests can be drawn up and enforced.
I don’t think people will argue against needing to make sure their vehicle is roadworthy. It’s for the benefit of all road users that vehicles are sufficiently safe. Just don’t force people to scrap their cars under the current circumstances.

Business editor (features) JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU paid RM400 to tow his car back to KL and thinks road safety is also down to the ability and discipline of the driver.