Selling Off An Old Car – This Is What I’ve Learnt



A kampong or village friend of mine once sold off his 2nd hand vehicle. You may not believe it, more than 18 years later, the said car was still in his name.

Isn’t there a law in Malaysia that says, “a vehicle that is sold must have its ownership transferred within 7 days duration”?

Well, that’s what the Road Transport Act 1987 stipulates. A friend of mine, Mr Ong, now nearing 65, experienced this bizarre and unbelievable tale.

I believe, “things always happen to others, and never to me”. Until they happened to me itself.

Want to know what exactly took place? How did such incident take place? Continue reading and find out.

A few years ago, I befriended a young Indonesian couple, Rahmat and his wife. The husband was a very hard working odd job contractor, while his wife worked for a well known chicken rice shop in Klang.

To be frank with you, Rahmat could do almost anything. Once, he even repaired my solar water heater and repaired my old shoes cabinet which incidentally about to be discarded.

Cutting overgrown branches of my mango as well as rambutan trees were amongst some of the other invaluable services which my friend rendered to me. In short, Rahmat was to be a good friend who could be depended upon to perform many odd jobs which a household requires.

However, as the saying “all good things must come to an end one fine day”. Unfortunately, this was exactly what was to happen in the later stages of our friendship. This Indon boy was destined to be enrolled in my driving school establishment sooner or later.

His not having a Malaysian driving license led him to many encounters with the authorities, both the police and the Road Transport Department. And finally, Rahmat made a wise decision to try to get both his motorcycle and car licenses with me.

But Rahmat, in fact faced an uphill task in his quest. You see, they boy had to overcome the Bahasa Malaysia computer Highway Code first. Surprisingly, he being an industrious man that he was, was to finally get through all the tests secure both his B2 (motor) and D (car) licenses eventually.

It would not be incorrect for me to say Rahmat’s gains was to end up as being my loss instead. That was when he began having eyes on my old Perodua Kancil lying forlorn under my rambutan tree.

Allow me to tell you a little bit about the above Kancil. Incidentally, the car was purchased for RM16,000. The car was meant to be my mode of transport when I decide to finally hang up my boots after my instructing days come to end.

To cut the long story short, my Indonesian friend incessantly pleaded me to sell my beloved Kancil to him. And that I finally did. For RM3000, inclusive of transfer. I must readily admit, must be one of the biggest mistake of my life.

Even before the transfer process of the car could be executed by the Puspakom and Road Transport Department could be over, Rahmat, he new owner of my Kancil, chalked up a total of 3 summonses. One issued by the Police and 2 by JPJ.

The JPJ summonses were for beating the traffic light and the other for overtaking on the left or using the road shoulder. Both RM300 fines!


Effort to get my friend to settle summons, especially those by the JPJ, failed. Constant letters of summons addressed to me, gave me and my wife, tremendous headaches. The Kancil, you see was registered under my wife’s name.

To make thing worst, Rahmat and his wife had finally moved to Subang Jaya. Phone calls from me to him were ignored!

It looks as if the owner had finally decided not to adhere to settling the authorities threats of actions. Well, as every driver knows, the latest Op Sikap campaign by the PDRM, to nab errant drivers for non-payment of summonses, finally led me making a decision.

I was eventually led into making what all along was something I hated making. And that is, having to make a visit to the Road Transport Department summons enforcement department located in Padang Jawa, Selangor.

I made my trip there on 1st June 2015.

Although I have to wait for more than 1 hour, before getting the opportunity to meet a senior officer of the department In the interview, it was in fact worth the while, so to say.

Rahmats problems which I faced was finally settled. On the other hand, my encounter with the Senior JPJ lady officer was fruitful and enlightening. I would say I gained quite a lot of information and knowledge from the above officer.

The new things pertaining to laws, regarding the transport industry I gathered during the 1 ½ hour interview benefited me tremendously.

And I finally left the JPJ premises at 2:30 pm feeling much enlightened. A heavy load had finally been lifted from my shoulders, as they say. The JPJ will now blacklist the Kancil.

To JPJ, allow me to express my heartfelt thanks. Once again thank you! You have been of tremendous assistance.

Maybe readers would like to know in a nutshell, what my mission in paying a visit to the JPJ was. My wife, was the registered owner of the Kancil when it was disposed.

The new owner, in this case, Rahmat, had committed infringements and received a few summons for it. This instructor, the hubby to my wife had represented her at the inquiry at the Road Transport Department recently. I had to divulge to the JPJ the identity of the new Kancil owner who had been committing one infringement after another.

By | 2015-07-07T12:04:27+08:00 June 9th, 2015|My Memories|3 Comments

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3 Comments

  1. Dorothy Cheong June 25, 2015 at 1:47 am - Reply

    Hi Will Yap & Cikgu Yap,

    My husband has been running to Pudu Sentral to get a chop for Class D for International Driving License as required by Japan in order to drive a van that carries 10 people but was unable to do it. I called up JPJ, the staff told me that it can be done just by getting the officer at the counter to just chop it. We are very confused as the officer at the counter doesn’t want to do it. What can we do next?

    • Cikgu Yap July 6, 2015 at 12:00 pm - Reply

      Malaysian authorities as I’m aware will not certify your D licence to enable you to drive a van ferrying 10 persons. See the Japanese authority about it.

  2. interesting November 30, 2015 at 3:32 pm - Reply

    Interesting story cikgu yap,

    But just a question, did you manage to finally transfer that kancil ownership to the new owner? Also what happens when JPJ blacklist the car? does this mean they cant renew the roadtax?

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