LTO sets rules allowing vehicle owners to use temporary plates

Provisional plates will only be allowed for 15 days starting from the day of purchase of the vehicle

FILE PHOTO: Vehicles on Edsa, Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare. Philippine Daily Inquirer

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Those who are planning to buy new vehicles and those vehicles bearing provisional plates can heave a sigh of relief.

The Assistant Secretary of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has announced on Tuesday, April 23, that from seven to 11 days, they will give an allowance for using new motor vehicles for 15 days while they wait for their license plates.

But LTO Asec. Vigor Mendoza II said that they had yet to issue an official memorandum for this.

Mendoza was here in Cebu for the opening of the LTO-7’s new licensing office location on Tuesday at Piazza Elesia along Gov. M. Cuenco Ave. in Brgy. Talamban in Cebu City.

Aside from that, he was also here to check the preparations for the license plate distributions and lay out concerns on which the central office could help to address.

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LTO temporary plates rules set

“Maglalabas po kami ng memo. First time ko i-announce ko ‘to. Maglalabas pa kami ng memo. Kasi pagbili mo ng kotse [may] provisional plate, wala pang rehistro ‘yan. But we will allow you to use the vehicle. Kasi, hindi mo naman kasalanan na hindi kaagad may plaka. Ang usapan namin sa mga dealer, a maximum of 11 days dapat from the time magbayad ‘yung motorista, 11 days siya. Para sa gano’n ‘yung plaka nasa kanya na. So, we will give the motorists siguro 15 days free use of the vehicle from the time you buy it, provisional plates pa lang,” Mendoza said in a news forum which he attended prior to the opening of the licensing office.

(We will come out with a memo. This is the first time that we announced this. We will come out with a memo. Because when you buy a car [there may be] a provisional plate, there is no registration yet. But we will allow you to use the vehicle. Because, it is not your fault that you do not have a plate. Our talk with the dealers, that there we will grant a maximum of 11 days from the time the motorists pay, that will be 11 days. So that the plate will already be with him [motorist]. So we will give the motorist, maybe, 15 days free use of the vehicle from the time you buy it, you can use provisional plates then.)

After 15 days, Mendoza said that owners must already have the license plates of their brand new vehicles. If they fail to have one, that would be the time that the LTO would call the attention of the owners and penalize them.

Mendoza urged the vehicle owners to claim their license plates once they would be available, but he said that if the dealer would be at fault, then they would also look into the matter.

“We will make sure that the dealers do their job also. Tapos pag hindi binigay ‘yung plaka sa kanila, isumbong nyo sa amin para kami naman ang manita sa mga dealer,” Mendoza said.

(We will make sure that the dealers do their job also. And if they will not give you your plates, you tell us so that we will be the ones to talk to the dealer.)

LTO Asec. Vigor Mendoza II. CDN Digital photo | Niña Mae Oliverio

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No reason to wait longer

Mendoza also said that from the time a buyer would buy a motor vehicle, it should not exceed 11 days for him to get his license plate.

He said that to those who would be buying brand new vehicles this time, there would be no reason for them to wait for their license plates for too long.

“Ang usapan nyan (between the dealer) from the time na magkaroon siya ng sales invoice pagbayad niya, and magbibilang ng araw na ‘yan. Eleven days ang pinag-usapan diyan. From the time mtay sales invoice ‘yan, 11 days para sa gano’n ‘yung plaka at OR/CR at ‘yung RFID sticker ay mabigay naman po do’n sa bumili ng sasakyan. Whether motorcycle po ‘yan or whether motor vehicle, dapat 11 days po ‘yan. Yan na po ang usapan namin sa mga dealers,” he said.

(Our agreement there (between the dealer) that from the time that there will be a sales invoice, from the time he or she will pay, the count for the days will start. The agreement there is 11 days. From the time there will be a sales invoice, 11 days so that the plate and OR/CR and the RFID stickey will already be given to the buyer of the vehicle. Whether it is a motorcycle or whether it is a motor vehicle, it should be 11 days. That is our agreement with the dealers.)

The Assistant Secretary added that if ever the dealer would blame the LTO for the delay, the buyer would be urged to approach the agency and provide them with the dealer’s name so they would investigate it.

And if ever they would prove that the LTO had been at fault upon their investigation, Mendoza said that they would make the LTO personnel accountable.

“Kasi dapat limang araw lang from the time the documents are submitted to us,” said Mendoza.

(Because it would only be 5 days from the time the documents are submitted to us.)

“We have some commitments on the part of LTO. We have five days within which to bring out the plates. ‘Yung mga dealers naman (The dealers, for their part), they have, for the time the plates are brought out, they have three days within which to bring those plates to the buyers,” Mendoza added.

Vehicle registration

The LTO said in its online portal that usually, first-time registrations would be handled by motor vehicle dealers.

And LTO’s existing memorandum regarding registration of new vehicles has an estimated processing time between 7 and 11 days.

From the time the buyer purchases the vehicle, the dealer will handle the requirements and do the paperwork for two to three days.

This will be followed by the submission of sale and initial registration documentation to the LTO in one to two days.

After that, the LTO will then register the motor vehicle and release an Official Receipt/Certificate of Registration (OR/CR) together with a plate number to the dealer within two to three days.

Finally, the dealer will then contact the owner to claim their license plate and the OR/CR to the owner within one to two days.

As for the motorcycle dealers, according to the LTO, they have three to five days to process the registration of the owner.

The LTO said that the car dealers would face a disciplinary action if they would fail to follow the outlined process of registration with fines of P100,000 for first offense; and P500,000 for second offense and suspension of their accreditation for not more than six months.

Meanwhile, for the motorcycle dealers, they will face P20,000 for first offense, P30,000 for the second, P40,000 for the third offense, and P50,000 for fourth offense with cancellation of certificate of accreditation and blacklisting of the dealer.