Kasun Tharaka

Hi Devinda_Z Yes you are absolutely correct. It is Insurance company's responsibility to collect the taxes (if applicable) for any vehicle. And DMT is easily washing their hands with the authoritative power they have. Even they are not ready to inquire how my vehicle got transferred TWICE when it has due taxes to pay. Disgusting !!! But in my case, the former insurance company have been paying the taxes and suddenly stopped due to a circular issued by DMT. The problem is that the said circular is wage and because of that any party can define it with their own way due to lack of information. So DMT have admitted that there is a problem and they will issue a new circular soon.

Hi Devinda_Z Yes you are absolutely correct. It is Insurance company's responsibility to collect the taxes (if applicable) for any vehicle. And DMT is easily washing their hands with the authoritative power they have. Even they are not ready to inquire how my vehicle got transferred TWICE when it has due taxes to pay. Disgusting !!! But in my case, the former insurance company have been paying the taxes and suddenly stopped due to a circular issued by DMT. The problem is that the said circular is wage and because of that any party can define it with their own way due to lack of information. So DMT have admitted that there is a problem and they will issue a new circular soon.

Hi isurujosh Yes. I was subjected to the Dual Purpose Semi Luxury Tax. The problem was that DMT issued a circular by waiving off that Semi Luxury tax from 1st Jan 2013 onward. The criterion were; - Gross weight should be lower than 3500 Kg - should be Dual Purpose - should be a Single Cab So All attributes were complied with my Hilux Vigo Smart Cab as per the CR. When I inquired they said that is not applicable to Hilux Smart Cab even I fulfill the requirement as per the circular and those are applicable only for Indian made Mahindra's and Tata Cabs. Though I paid the tax in the end, DMT admitted that the circular has some loopholes and they will make necessary arrangements to re-issue the said circular with corrections.

Thanks Crosswind and Don for the valuable inputs and precious time spent on replying. Cheers !

Hi Friends, Case resolved. But as Crosswind and Don said, I had to pay the tax However as a result of my reply letter to them, they have decided to waive off 90% from the penalty. But they do not provide clear answer to my question regarding how my cab got transferred with due taxes. However I didn't want to drag this further coz it is huge time waste. BTW, former insurance (j********i) company (who is responsible to collect that tax from the customer) have had a meeting with them. As per them, DMT admits that there are loopholes in the circular which they have issued on 2013 and they will take actions to re-issue the circular to all insurance companies very soon. BUT in the end, I paid the tax

Dear Don, Appreciate your words. As a citizen, I have a right to get clarified why I should pay taxes when there are mismatches like this. On the other hand, DMT has done a big mistake by transferring the CR (twice !!! not once) if they claim that this vehicle have due taxes. It is absolutely not fair DMT to ask me to pay the due taxes for past years which I was not the owner of this vehicle at that time. Yes If the tax is applicable, I will pay it definitely for the period I'm using this vehicle (2015 onwards) but I am not ready to pay taxes for the period which somebody else was using the vehicle. I agree with you Don. The commissioner and Dep commissioners in the past were reasonable people. I personally do know that. Anyways I will at least give a try with present people as well

Dear Crosswind, YOM of my cab is 2010 and registered in 2011. Anyway it's under Single Cab category. No I did't went to the Luxury tax department. But my friend there was calling all the divisions and trying to get a clear answer. but the answers we got are contradicting. However, I will go and discuss with Luxury Tax department. Thanks for the tip.

Dear Crosswind, Thank you for taking time for replying this. Actually today I wend to DMT and asked about this since I have some known officers there. They have asked this from several branches. Some says Yes you have to pay. But some says according to the circular and the attributes in my CR, you don't have to pay. At least inside the DMT there are contradictions about this. People who say that I have to pay, are telling that the Vigo has 4 doors so you have to pay. That means CR should reflect it by saying the number of seats without driver are 3. But my CR clearly says No of seats without Driver is ONE !. If my cab have to have 4 seats, then it should be registered as a Double Cab. They say that Vigo Smart cab is a double cab. So how the hell is that got registered as a Single cab? When I asked this, they do not give an answer. I understand your point that arguing with them is like arguing with a brick wall. Even brick wall answers, DMT wont answer. But I think I should take this up because this can affect to plenty of smart cab owners in this in this country if I succeed through this. Yes yes I know but I will at least give a try Ater all, Hats off for the statement you made. "It's the Law and the Law is an Ass" made my day :D

Dear Friends, I recently (2 weeks ago) bought a Toyota Vigo Smart Cab and went to do the insurance company to get the insurance done. They have issued a cover note and keep delaying printing the Insurance card. When I inquired, they said that my vehicle have due Semi Luxury Taxes which are not paid for 2 years and due to that they cannot give the insurance card until I clear the taxes. However, this vehicle was insured with j********i Insurance under the 1st owner. they have paid taxes for 3 years which is for 2011, 2012 and 2013. After that j********i has not collected the taxes for 2014 and 2015 claiming that there was a government circular which exempts the Semi Luxury taxes on Dual purpose Single Cabs with effect from 1st January 2013. Now when I check with Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) , they say that the vehicle have overdue taxes and the I should pay the respective taxes. My questions are: 1. Is the Semi Luxury tax still applicable for Vigo Smart cab? 2. The said circular says if the vehicle is Dual Purpose Single cab (Yes my cab is resisted under this category) and if it is has only driver cage (1 seat other than driver as per the CR) and the gross weight is below 3500 Kg (mine is 2665 Kg), how can DMT say that I have to pay the Semi luxury tax? 3. If there are unpaid taxes existed, is it possible to transfer the ownership of the vehicle without charging the applicable taxes from the previous owners? (I am the 3rd owner and two successful transfers was happened) Do anybody came across a situation like this? please share your ideas coz now the new insurance people refusing to issue the insurance card to me because of this. Smart Cab owners please help me to get a clear idea about this. Thanks in Advance Kasun W

I have seen couple of e24's under Isuzu Badge. And I don't think that you can change the registration documents now. But better to call DMT and check whether there is any possibility. Other than the badges, It is pure Nissan. only worry is you might get low price tags due to the Isuzu naming here at Sri Lanka.

Yeah, Isuzu Fargo came exactly as Nissan Caravan e24. The only noticeable change is the Isuzu badges. If you check the plate under the bonnet, u can see it says "Nissan Motor Corporation" and the Engine is QD32 which is Nissan made. Same as that, the e25 Caravan is also coming as Isuzu Como and the situation is exactly same as above. The super joke here is when you go ti buy one as reconditioned the Isuzu Badged Caraven is having low price tags compared to Nissan. So as Ruslan said, if you are not the first owner, the previous owner may have done some "Jilmart"

Hi All, Saw this thread when Im searching details regarding the relationship between Navara and Super Diesel. If any one knows, please let me know whether there are NIssan Navara's which can run on normal diesel? (Like Non Common rail version of Mitsubishi L200). Thanks in Advance...

Hi, My personal thought is better to go for an Alto in your case. Thanks !

Yes. That's why i asked the ODO reading since it might changed. And it will be a good idea to check your injectors and diesel pump ASAP. even the e24 Caravan with massive QD32 (3200 cc and Yes, it is Non-Turbo) is also giving 8+ Kmpl in colombo with Dual AC. also i have driven an e25 for few days and it gave me 9/12(colombo/out) respectively. Now i'm having a e24 with TD27 engine (2700cc) with automatic transmission but it also gives me 9+ in colombo with A/C. hence i would like to recommend to you to get the Injectors/Diesel Pump as well as the turbo unit. Thanks and BR KW

VTEC, The new E25 Caravan is actually very good in fuel. It is giving 9Kmpl+ in city with A/C and 12+ for outstation travelling. Not like the E24, E25 is having Direct injection Fuel system as well as coupled a turbo unit with the 3.0L engine. Most probably it may be a fault of your Direct Injection Fuel system. BTW, have u noticed any unusual smoke from the muffler? what is the ODO meter reading? Also, check for brake binds. these are simple things but affects lot for fuel economy. BR KW

These kinds of problems most of the times you cannot resolve by changing the ATF. These should be repaired. Otherwise those 2,3 and 6 seconds will grow up for 1-2 minutes even. i had this problem with my vehicle. you will have to replace some plates and rubber rings inside the gear box. I can provide contact details of the AT repairing technician which i got repaired my vehicle if any one wants.

Dear All, I'm planning to buy a new Van and most probably it will be a nissan Caravan (New Model). When I searching about that, I found two models as Caravan VWME25 and Caravan VWE25. Is any one here using the new Nissan Caravan (E25 model)? if so please share your ideas regarding the vehicle. Also I'm very much thankfull if some one could help me to figure out the defferences in the above two models. And what do you think about the new Caravan when comparing it with new Hiace KDH models. (Not actually the physical appearance. I want to get some idea about the performance and handling wise before finalyze my buying decision) Thanks in advance for your valuable ideas. Best Regards Kasun W

I'm also using Zen Estilo K-Series 1000cc. It gives me 13-14 Kmpl in city and 17-18 out. Kasun W

Not really. I'm experiencing it when my car reached to 3500Km mark on my odo as I can remember. It's really hard to drive in traffics when the RPM drops like that. On the other hand, I'm getting mad when it revs up to 1500rpm un-necessarily when the my fuel level is getting near to "E" mark . but the thing is it happens occationally. not all the time. BR Kasun

Hi, just saw this thread and thought to join it. I'm also having that kind of problem since I'm also experiencing some kind of RPM drops as well as RPM hikes (Some times 1.5K !!!). It is not happenning always. when i drive it arround 60 - 70 Km/h and stopped for some reason, I can observe that the RPM needle is remaining at 1.5K for 10-15 seconds and come back to normal. Also some times it drops up to 0.5K which is very umcomfertoble for me to drive it in traffic since this has Manual Transmission. BTW my vehicle is Maruti Zen Estilo and done only 8000Km's. I have always used 95 Octane or 93 Octane pertol. And it gives me 13-14 Kmpl in city limits. If anyone in this forum is experienced this and if rectified the issue, please share your valuable ideas. BR Kasun

Yeah... as already happened to you. I mean 'May be'.

He he Watchman... Thats why i said "may be to SL"

Look it is Right Hand side driving.... may be to SL

Vehicle : Maruti Suzuki Estilo Transmission Type : Manual Engine Capacity : 1000cc Fuel : 95 Octane Petrol Km per Ltr (city/long distance) : 13-14 / 18 Vehicle : Nissan Homy E-24 Transmission Type : Auto Engine Capacity : 2700cc Fuel : Diesel (Normal) Km per Ltr (city/long distance) : 9-10 / 12

Nishan, Estilo will give you 13-14 Kmpl in colombo and 18-19 Kmpl for outstation. This is my personal experience since I own an Estilo. But please keep mind that fuel consumption is directly proportional with your driving style. BR Kasun