Records at some inspection centers in Hanoi and Bac Ninh in recent days show that many car owners have been refused inspection. The rejected cars belong to the yellow license plate group (transportation business) but the registration papers are not consistent (the information has not been changed from white to yellow license plates).

Mr. Tran Nguyen Sinh, Director of Inspection Center 29.08D (Hoai Duc, Hanoi) said that recently about 20% of vehicles coming for inspection were refused.

However, at the 29.03V Inspection Center (Cau Giay, Hanoi), the number of rejected vehicles is not much. Mr. Tran Quoc Hoan - Deputy Director in charge of the 29.03V Center explained that the center's specialty is to often inspect passenger cars and family cars, so there are not many cases of yellow-plate vehicles being rejected.

Meanwhile, the Director of the 99.08D Vehicle Inspection Center (Bac Ninh) said that the unit mainly inspects private vehicles, so the number of rejected vehicles is not high. However, this situation is quite common in inner-city areas, large cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, or inspection centers near large transport companies.

Mr. Tran Viet Manh (Dan Phuong, Hanoi) shared that because he did not have the information, and thought that the inspection station would be quiet near Tet, he only brought his car for inspection on the day the inspection expired.

“On the 27th of Tet, I took my car for inspection. When I arrived, I checked the system and my car was warned that the registration certificate was different from the actual vehicle. My car registration still had the white plate information (with the letter T symbol), so the inspection was rejected.

Normally during Tet, I often run errands to serve spring-traveling customers. Due to this incident, I had to take 10 days off during Tet, losing quite a bit of revenue,” said Mr. Manh.

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Vehicles arrive for inspection at Center 29.03V on the morning of February 7. Photo: N. Huyen

It is known that at the inspection centers, the transport business cars with yellow license plates are refused inspection because the vehicle registration certificate still shows the vehicle with white license plates. These cars are warned on the software of the Vietnam Register: There is a discrepancy between the vehicle registration certificate and the actual vehicle when performing the inspection procedure.

This is one of the cases where cars were warned about inspection and refused inspection according to new regulations in Decree 166/2024 on business conditions for motor vehicle inspection services, organization and operation of inspection facilities, and the life span of motor vehicles, effective from January 1.

To be inspected, the vehicle owner must carry out the procedure of changing the information on the vehicle registration certificate from a white plate to a yellow plate (symbol T to V) to match the actual vehicle.

After receiving the new vehicle registration certificate or the appointment paper for the vehicle registration certificate (printed from the Ministry of Public Security's software), the vehicle owner brings the vehicle to the inspection facility for re-inspection.

When checking the information matches the vehicle registration (or vehicle registration appointment paper), the inspection facility will remove the warning for the vehicle and perform a normal inspection.

Speaking further with VietNamNet, Mr. Do Van Bang, Chairman of the Hanoi Transport Association, said that fixed-route vehicles do not fall into this awkward situation. The number of vehicles "stuck" in inspection because they have not changed their registration from white to yellow plates mainly falls into the group of contract vehicles and taxis.

“These are vehicles with long service life. The number of these vehicles in Hanoi is estimated at nearly 30,000,” Mr. Bang informed.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association (VATA), said that currently, there are more than 1.2 million commercial vehicles nationwide that have changed from white to yellow license plates but have not changed their vehicle registration certificates to match the color of the license plate, leading to the vehicles being rejected when they are due for inspection. This leads to the risk that many commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and even buses will have to stop running because their registration has expired.

"If these problems are not resolved, there is a risk that passenger transport sectors such as buses, taxis, and inter-provincial coaches will stop operating, causing traffic paralysis and other consequences," Mr. Quyen said.

To promptly resolve difficulties, VATA has just sent a document to the Prime Minister and relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Justice, etc., requesting timely instructions and solutions.

In the immediate future, it is necessary to relax the requirement that vehicles must be registered with the correct license plate color before being inspected within 6 months to ensure that business is not disrupted and to help traffic police in provinces and cities complete the re-issuance of registrations with new license plates.