SINGAPORE — Businesses offering Singapore car owners help with applying for Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) tags are seeing more demand for their services, with Malaysia enforcing the requirement since Oct 1.
These "skip the queue" services cover assistance to apply for the VEP online, amend personal details, deregister an existing permit and collect and install the radio frequency identification (RFID) tags at VEP collection centres in Johor and Singapore, customers and those offering such services told The Straits Times.
It costs anywhere between $25 to $168 for such services, compared with the RM40 ($12.20) vehicle owners pay in total if they personally register for the permit via Malaysia's Road Transport Department (JPJ) website.
JPJ on its website says that "representatives" are allowed to do the registrations on behalf of vehicle owners, as long as they "ensure that the information provided is true and accurate".
It is mandatory for Singapore motorists entering Malaysia via its two land borders, at the Causeway and Second Link, to have the VEP from Oct 1. But the application process has been marred by delays and technical issues, resulting in long queues at the VEP collection centres.
Malaysia says that for now, cars from Singapore can still enter Johor without a permit. However, those who have not applied for a VEP will be issued a written warning.
The VEP allows the Malaysian authorities to identify foreign-registered vehicles, enabling them to track traffic offences and outstanding writs of summons.
The New Paper reported in August that a Singapore company, Innox Group, was offering VEP "skip the queue" services at $138. It has since increased the fee to $168.
On its website, the company says it is "experiencing high volumes of pending clients" and will take only 20 new applications a day. It did not respond to queries from ST.
Singapore car wash company Radiant Wash, which began offering VEP application services in August under Radiant VEP Solutions, is also seeing good business.
Company director Derrick Heng said that as the Oct 1 deadline approached, Radiant VEP received about 50 to 70 applications a day. That number has since come off, to about 20 to 30 a day.
"Some people decided to try entering without applying for a VEP. We now see more clients coming to us after they received a warning from the authorities," said Heng.
On Oct 3, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that 112,658 VEP tags have been issued, of which 75,412 have been installed and activated.
When asked about concerns regarding the security of motorists' personal data, Heng said all VEP confirmation slips are issued directly by JPJ and clients can access their JPJ accounts to monitor their applications in real time.
In response to queries from ST, a spokesperson from TCSens — a Malaysian vendor appointed by the JPJ to handle VEP applications — said it does not encourage VEP applications being made through agents.
But there are cases where users seek assistance through a representative, which is allowed as per the JPJ's standard operating procedure.
The spokesperson explained that the agent or third party must produce a document signed by the vehicle owner authorising the agent to submit VEP applications on their behalf. The spokesperson said there is no fast-track service for agents.
"They (agents) will have to go through the standard application process of submitting the vehicle owner's particulars up to the installation of the tags, where vehicles owners must be present at the point of collection and fixing of the RFID tags," the spokesperson said.
Similar services have been listed on online marketplace Carousell since August, with prices ranging from $25 to more than $100.
Jason Koay, director of accounting and secretarial firm Bizwise Management, said his company has been offering VEP assistance services on Carousell at $50 an applicant since September.
His company handles about 50 applications a day, and has two Malaysian staff in Johor Bahru to handle over-the-counter services such as amendment to personal details.
Meanwhile, 25-year-old auditor Kaylea Tan offers VEP application services as a sideline on Carousell, at $40 an applicant.
"Most of my customers prefer the convenience of my service instead of trying to navigate the bureaucratic labyrinth themselves," she said, adding that some of her clients are elderly.
An employee at one of the companies ST contacted said all RFID tag collections are done in the presence of the vehicle owner, and payments are collected only after the service is rendered.
"I won't take your money first. Once the tags are installed, then you make payment," he said.
Two customers ST spoke to said they turned to these services to avoid the hassle of the application process and long queues at the VEP collection centres.
One of them, Raja Muzaffar Shah, 55, an assistant executive officer at a voluntary welfare organisation in Singapore, said he received his VEP on Oct 7, just over two weeks after submitting documents to Innox Group.
He paid around $130 for the service and was in touch with a staff member throughout the process.
When asked about his thoughts on personal data being handled by a third party, he said: "I trust him because my friends also applied for their VEPs through him, and I only paid after everything was settled."
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
