New fees will harm car trade, association leader warns

AMMAN – The government’s recent decision to increase the ownership transfer fees of cars will harm the automobile trading sector, the Jordan Free Zone Investors Association (JFZIA) said on Wednesday.

Under the new decision, a car with an engine size smaller than 1,500cc will be subject to a transfer fee of JD50. The fees will be JD100 for cars with engines between 1,501-2,000cc, JD400 for engines between 2,001 and 3,000cc and JD550 for engines between 3,001cc and 4,000cc.

Transactions involving cars with engines bigger than 4,001cc will now attract a JD700 transfer fee. 

“The purpose of the decision, which is to increase revenue, will backfire as it would limit the activities of buying and selling,” JFZIA President Nabil Rumman told The Jordan Times.

Noting that the used car trade is the second largest contributor to the national economy after the real estate sector, Rumman indicated that the increased fees will directly and indirectly harm more than 200,000 Jordanian families involved in the sector.

He added that there are more than 1.1 million cars in Jordan, of which 600,000 have big engines.

“Big cars are not a luxury. They are needed in a mountainous country like Jordan,” Rumman said, adding that middle-income people can own such cars at “very affordable” prices.

The JFZIA president warned that increasing the fees of ownership transfer paves the way for people to buy and sell their cars in person outside the Driver and Motor Vehicle Licensing Department, which could lead to revenue losses. 

“The Treasury used to receive JD500 million to JD600 million a year from the sector, but the recent decision would reduce demand for big cars,” Rumman speculated.

The decision, which was also made during former prime minister Abdullah Ensour’s government but was revisited later, came into effect on Monday.