The Bangalorean Who Paroled his Ferrari! MH-Registered Luxury Car Owner Pays ₹1.4 Crore Road Tax after Karnataka RTO Crackdown

The striking hybrid coupe, capable of rocketing from 0 to 100 km/h in a mere 2.5 seconds thanks to its 986-horsepower V8 plug-in hybrid setup, had become a familiar sight on the city’s streets. However, it was the car’s Maharashtra registration that caught the eye of the Karnataka Regional Transport Office (RTO), sparking one of the most high-profile crackdowns on luxury vehicle tax evasion in recent memory.

Registered in Maharashtra two years ago, the Ferrari’s owner had reportedly paid just ₹20 lakh in road tax to the western state, which is a mere fraction of what Karnataka demands for such registering high-value vehicles.

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Karnataka’s road tax rules mandate that any out-of-state registered vehicle plying on local roads for more than one year must be re-registered and the appropriate local tax paid. RTO officials, acting on tip-offs and ongoing surveillance of weekend luxury car gatherings, intercepted the SF90 Stradale near Lalbagh on Thursday, July 3 at around 8:30 AM.

The driver claimed the documents were at home, but a quick verification revealed the car had been regularly used in Bengaluru since September 2023, already surpassing the permitted one-year mark by several months.

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Transport authorities issued a formal notice on the spot, warning the owner to clear the Karnataka road tax and associated penalties by evening or face seizure and further legal action under the Motor Vehicles Act. The swift ultimatum led the owner to settle the mammoth amount of ₹1.41 crore in dues by evening on the same day - marking a payment that ranks as one of the largest single-vehicle road tax recoveries in recent years.

This episode forms part of a broader enforcement drive targeting luxury vehicles using out-of-state registrations as a loophole to bypass Karnataka’s high tax rates. Earlier in the year, officials seized 30 other high-end vehicles including Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs, Audis, Aston Martins, and Range Rovers whose owners were served notices to recover crores in unpaid taxes.

Karnataka authorities have made it clear: operating such cars beyond a year without local compliance will invite stiff penalties, seizure, and legal consequences. For now, the Italian Horse is back strutting on the road.

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