Starting with a BIG THANKS & DEDICATION to Sheriff without sharing his RTO experience, we would’ve suffered a lot

So here goes our experience in FC process of our 15 year old Activa

Background
Bought : 2005 Jul
FC Renewal Date : 2020 Jul

After much delay to bring back the bike due to long lock down and completely moved to Madurai from Chennai, whether to buy a additional new scooter or e-scooter finally we decided to restore our Activa because that’s our first month’s salary share and dad’s share and want to gift my kid to learn in this summer. Why we need it in madurai…

1. We couldn’t find a worthy upgrade (we wanted Fi, disc, 12+ inch tires, min 150cc delivering atleast 15+ Bhp)
2. e-Scooters, Ather was closest, but way too expensive & they’re not really economical to run compared to today’s petrol scooters either
3. Most importantly, our Activa had only run 39K in last 15 years. Except the appearance everything else was fabulous

Restoration
We know a technician from our area from 2013, who is also startup his own bike garage from garage itself in recent times. So finding the right guy for the job was not difficult. Left the scooter to him last month, in a week, complete restoration of my old bike completed, along with changing the switches, entire headlight assy restored, glass on meter console, some clutch work, new Michelin tires estimated to 3K

Challenges
1. Our scooter was not appearing in Vahan portal
2. Vehicle was registered at Bypass RTO,
3. PUC(Pollution Under Control ) cannot be done as vehicle wasn’t appearing in portal & without PUC no documentation moves

Vahan Registration
1. Visited Bypass RTO with original RC & fortunately insurance renewed by my friend sheriff quickly
2. Can’t believe!! Entire Vahan registration work was done in less than 90 minutes(Day 1 @ 3 PM – submission to the staff sitting le left last corner & Day 4 – 1 hour waiting to get it done). The persons were warm & friendly. Absolutely breeze of time spent at RTO
3. Like my friend said, I was supposed to check the portal once they entered the data, and its shown
4. They asked me to get PUC (100Rs) located near opp. side petrol bulk  & pay the fees online so that they can close the FC process in a day Hence we thanked for their services & moved on

FC Process
Actual process is simple…
a. Pay Green Tax Rs 500
b. Pay FC fee Rs 550
c. Show the vehicle to inspector
d. Submit the documents (2 copies of FC payment receipt, PUC & Insurance papers)

so the below process was being followed
1. Online payment of Rs 500 towards Green tax
2. I logged into Vahan portal -> Online Payment to pay the Rs 700 (Rs 550 + 150)
3. Take a printout of the receipt along with photocopies of PUC, FC receipt & insurance papers after confirm with the office persons as sometime the payment not reflected immediately or some Payment gateway error
4. Took the vehicle to inspector for verification\
5. Once the inspector verified (someone at the ground read out the chassis number probably because of lot of vehicles avail for inspection)
8. Once he signed, we took the papers to RTO office fee counter & submitted both copies
9. We’re asked to come after a week (the person at fee counter himself rearranged the papers, no fuss, no tantrums or complaints)

Once again BIG THANKS to Sheriff without him, we would’ve spent a hefty money to driving school (it’s Rs.2700-Rs.3000 now)

Additional Titbits

• Many thanks to technology & good governance
• Also the attitude of RTO officials across all levels have changed drastically. Patience, helpful & calmness are some of unbelievable attitude observed.
• They all look constipated (i think they were looking helpless because they could not make money through bribe). This was our observation at both RTOs
• All the more, no making us run from pillar to post. Vahan data entry was done in less than 30 min, a job that hardly takes 10-20 min.
• We got entire work of FC done in 2-3 hours despite several visits & all of them guided us politely.
• Absolutely no cash transaction if you are sure and not ready to bribe & nothing in RTO & every stage had to do with RTO portal.
• But yes, people who are not tech savvy will suffer. The nearby internet service/xerox shops will benefit due to this for sometime