Forgetting to renew road tax or claiming that the vehicle was only used occasionally were among the excuses given by luxury car owners caught by the Road Transport Department (JPJ) for failing to renew their road tax.
Under Ops Luxury conducted across Penang since last year, JPJ has seized various high-end vehicles including Jaguar, BMW, Ford Mustang, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz models.
Penang JPJ director Zulkifly Ismail said the department views seriously the attitude of certain luxury vehicle owners who continue using their vehicles on public roads despite having expired road tax.
He stressed that all vehicles driven on the road must have a valid Motor Vehicle Licence (LKM), regardless of how often they are used.
“The excuses vary, from forgetting to renew the road tax to claiming the vehicles are rarely used.
“However, such reasons cannot be accepted because every vehicle must still have a valid licence under existing regulations,” he said during a press conference at the Penang JPJ headquarters on Friday.
Zulkifly revealed that between June and Dec 31, 2025, a total of 73 luxury vehicles were seized during the operation.
During that period, the government reportedly lost an estimated RM88,000 in revenue due to owners failing to renew their road tax.
From January to May 21 this year, another 51 luxury vehicles were seized involving 124 enforcement actions for various offences.
“For that same period, the estimated government revenue loss reached RM174,000 due to unpaid road tax involving luxury vehicles,” he said.
He added that enforcement operations uncovered several vehicles that had not renewed their road tax for up to five or six years.
Among them were a BMW with expired road tax since 2020 and a Jaguar since 2021.
“We found that some owners continued using their vehicles despite being blacklisted,” he said.
A Ford Mustang was also found to have expired road tax since 2022, with its annual road tax amounting to RM10,900.
According to Zulkifly, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota were among the vehicle brands most frequently seized during the operation.
Overall, the total value of vehicles seized between January and May 21 this year was estimated at around RM14 million.
“Most of the owners are VVIPs and businesspeople, but so far no politicians have been identified as being involved,” he added.
In a related development, Zulkifly said none of the vehicle owners caught last year were found repeating the same offence after enforcement action was taken.
“Most of those detained previously have since renewed their road tax,” he said.
