Vehicle Paint: Is Changing The Colour Of Your Car Legal?

Is it legal to change the colour of your car without informing JPJ, Puspakom or your insurance?

Vehicle colour represents more than just a protective lick of paint on the car's metal. It's an extension of our personality as well as a crucial part of the vehicle ownership experience. Simply put it, if you don't like the colour of your car, you won't enjoy it as much as those who love theirs.

You can however, correct this by changing the colour of your car and while this is one of the most exciting and easiest parts of vehicle customisation, there are a few rules you must follow for the car to be fully legal on the road.

Without these proper steps, you will be harassed by enforcement agencies every time you drive your pride and joy so why not just do it because it is not that difficult nor time-consuming.

The stand on vehicle colour change is relatively straight forward in the eyes of the Road Transport Department (JPJ). All you have to do is declare to JPJ that you have done so within a week of the vehicle's colour change.

To do that, all you need to do simply visit a JPJ branch near you with your identification card and vehicle grant as well as a notice letter than you have changed the vehicle's colour either through wrapping or painting. JPJ will then update their records, and bob's your uncle. 

You can change your vehicle's colour to anything you want as long as you report it to JPJ or else enforcement will start and continue till you rectify it. By not declaring, you could also get a double summons everywhere you go. As an example, if you ever get caught speeding, you might just end up getting a summons for that as well as you have not declared your vehicle's new colour which makes it technically illegal. This could further your problems with the enforcement agency as your car is not road worthy from a paperwork point of view.

Speaking of paperwork, how does colour change affect your insurance policy? According to Niranjan Visuvalingam who has been in the auto insurance industry for 14 years, although there are no implications from an insurance point of view, it could be a source of argument when it comes to claims for insurance. "At the moment vehicle colour is not yet a component in setting motor premium rates. However, you already know that it's an obligation to update JPJ of a colour change so that it's endorsed. Personally, I do think colour can and might affect risk factor. For e.g. a matt black car can be less visible in the dark, putting it at higher risk. On the other side of things, an orange coloured vehicle can be more visible. Will insurance premiums be adjusted according to the above two scenarios, the answer is no at this point.

"As an owner, I would update a colour change not only to fulfil my obligation to JPJ but also to alleviate the chances of my accident/ theft claim being arguable/ questionable on the grounds that my vehicle isn't in the condition as per the registration records."

"Different if the car is painted like a track car, the insurer might suspect that you were using it to race", said Niranjan.

So, although it sounds like there are no implications for not doing so, anything that makes the car dissimilar to what is listed in the records can cause complications, so the question is why would you want that? If the answer is no, then updating your car's details with the JPJ is the only way. 

It's not that hard to do either, you could even send a runner to do it, but supporting documents will be needed if you get them to do it.