Local private cars hard to get non-local license plates
5/2/2004 15:49
With difficulties in annual check and handling traffic accidents, private
cars from Shanghai are restricted from applying for license plates in the nearly
cities, the Oriental Morning Post reported today.
Last year, Shanghai
reported a big increase in private cars, with the number of monthly license
plates gained rising from 3,000 to more than 6,000 and bidding prices growing
from 18,800 yuan (US$2,265) to 40,000-plus yuan.
Since October 1, 2001,
out-of-town people, with temporary residence permits, can apply for license
plates of small vehicles locally, according to the regulations of the Ministry
of Communications.
Thanks to the free license plates offered in Zhejiang
Province, many car buyers in Shanghai apply for license plates there.
"We
only collect 200 yuan in commission from license plate appliers, and as of the
second half of last year, the number of cars from Shanghai hit up to 100 a day."
said Xu Wenjian, director with vehicle administration office in Jiaxing,
Zhejiang Province, adding that the total number of such cars from Shanghai
reached more than 4,000 last year.
Hangzhou and Huzhou have also become
favorite places for locals to get free license plates.
The total number of
vehicles in Shanghai that got license plates in Zhejiang Provinces was predicted
to reach some 10,000 last year.
At the end of last year, the vehicle
administration departments in Huzhou and Jiaxing began to check non-local
vehicles, rejecting the vehicles with false residence information from applying
for license plates there, and at the beginning of this year, Hangzhou restricted
non-local vehicles from getting license plates by strictly checking temporary
residence permits.
"Non-local vehicles have brought trouble to us, as it is
inconvenient to conduct annual inspections on them, and such car owners usually
give false information on their temporary residence permits, so it is hard for
us to handle traffic accidents," said the spokesman with the traffic police
department of Zhejiang Province.
Shanghai adopts monthly auction policy on
private car license plates in order to control the number of cars and relieve
traffic pressure.
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news
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