How to register a car with a changed license plate but not yet registered?

Currently, there are about 1 million commercial vehicles that have changed their license plates to yellow but have not changed their registration certificates. It is worth noting that most of these vehicles have taken out bank loans using their "Vehicle Registration Certificates", leading to problems when going for inspection.

Surprised to receive notice of failed vehicle inspection

A week ago, Mr. Nguyen Van H (residing in Nam Tu Liem district) brought his car for inspection and was surprised to receive a notice that the car was rejected for inspection because the license plate was yellow but the vehicle registration showed a white plate (symbol T).

From 2025, cars with license plate colors different from the information on the vehicle registration will be refused inspection. The Vietnam Automobile Transport Association estimates that about 1 million cars are in this category.

Mr. H said that a year ago, his car was still inspected normally. Recently, because he rarely reads the news, Mr. H did not know that the regulations had changed. In case the vehicle has any discrepancy with the information on the vehicle registration, it will be refused inspection.

For transport business vehicles (yellow license plates) that are no longer in transport business and want to change to a white license plate to match the information on the vehicle registration, the transport business unit must return the badge to the Department of Transport (now the Department of Construction) where it was issued. The Department of Construction will issue a decision to revoke the badge and send it to the transport unit. The transport unit and vehicle owner will bring this decision to the police agency to complete the procedure to change the yellow license plate to a white license plate. The procedure is as simple as changing the vehicle registration certificate.

According to the leaders of the inspection centers, from January 1, 2025, when Decree No. 166/2024 of the Government takes effect, every day the units will reject about ten cases of vehicles coming for inspection with information different from the vehicle registration and inspection papers.

For the above vehicles, to be inspected, the vehicle owner needs to change the information on the vehicle registration to match the actual vehicle, then take the vehicle for re-inspection.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, said that currently, there are about 1 million automobiles operating in the transport business that have changed their white license plates to yellow license plates and have not changed their vehicle registration certificates according to the regulations in Circular No. 58/TT-BCA.

Meanwhile, most of the business vehicles of enterprises and individuals including passenger cars, trucks, taxis... are mortgaged by banks with "Vehicle Registration Certificate". Withdrawing or borrowing "Vehicle Registration Certificate" from the bank to bring to the Traffic Police Department to "change the vehicle registration certificate" cannot be done.

If the vehicle registration certificate is not changed to match the license plate, the vehicle will not be inspected and will not be eligible for road traffic, affecting the operations of businesses as well as the transportation sector.

Propose solutions to overcome difficulties

Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung, CEO of Mai Linh Mien Bac Joint Stock Company, said that the company has thousands of taxis that are having trouble with registration because the color of the license plate does not match the information on the vehicle registration.

"Brokers" service of changing vehicle registration are flourishing.

Most vehicles are mortgaged to banks, so to change vehicle registration, you need to borrow the vehicle registration from the bank.

"Mai Linh Company has sent a letter to the bank requesting to borrow the vehicle registration certificate and it has been approved. Through the media, banks have been aware of the difficulties of transport businesses, so borrowing the vehicle registration certificate to carry out the procedures for changing the vehicle registration is not difficult," said Mr. Hung.

According to Mr. Hung, the above difficulties of car owners and businesses are only temporary, the responsibility of each individual and organization is still to comply with legal regulations. Therefore, changing the vehicle registration to match the actual vehicle is necessary and mandatory.

However, due to the large number of vehicles, Mr. Hung proposed allowing the above vehicles to be temporarily registered for a period of 6 months - 1 year. During this time, businesses and vehicle owners will complete the change of vehicle registration information.

Regarding this issue, the Vietnam Register said it has sent a document proposing that the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) chair a meeting with relevant units to agree on a plan to remove difficulties in inspection for cars that have changed license plates but have not changed their registration papers.

Specifically, consider allowing the vehicle owner to temporarily not present the changed vehicle registration when doing the inspection procedure within 3 months. This process will last for 6 months or 1 year (for debt).

In these cases, the inspection facility does not issue the original inspection certificate but only issues a copy stamped with "valid for 3 months from the date of issue". Within 3 months, the vehicle owner must complete the vehicle registration change procedure and have the vehicle re-inspected to be issued the original inspection certificate.

Simple procedure

Surveying car inspection groups, it is easy to see a series of information from car owners about being refused inspection because the car has a yellow license plate but the registration shows a white license plate or vice versa.

Others want to share solutions and procedures for changing vehicle registration to get a vehicle inspection. Right below these posts, there are continuous comments from service brokers, supporting changing vehicle registration at a cost of 2-3 million VND.

However, there is also a car owner who said that in the past, he hired a "broker" to change the white license plate to a yellow one for his transportation business, but recently discovered that the vehicle's registration at the police agency still shows the white license plate. "To get the vehicle inspected, now I have to change the vehicle registration, it's really a "loss of money, a problem", said Mr. TN.

Lieutenant Colonel Le Duy Hien, Chief of Thai Binh Commune Police, Yen Son District, Tuyen Quang Province, said that currently, the police force has delegated the task of receiving applications and issuing and changing registration papers for motorbikes and cars to the police of communes and wards.

People go to the police station where they reside to submit a copy of the chassis number and engine number, fill out an application for changing vehicle registration, a certificate of motor vehicle conversion (for converted vehicles), a decision to revoke the business vehicle badge (for vehicles changing from yellow to white license plates), pay the fee for issuing and changing the vehicle registration certificate (50,000 VND), and the fee for issuing and changing the vehicle registration certificate with the license plate (150,000 VND).

After completing the above procedures, the vehicle owner will be given an appointment to issue a vehicle registration certificate, and after 2 working days, come and receive the new vehicle registration certificate. "The procedure is very simple, so the vehicle owner can completely do it himself without having to hire a service broker, avoiding additional costs," Lieutenant Colonel Hien advised.

On the other hand, according to the inspection centers, with just a vehicle registration appointment, the vehicle owner can take the vehicle for inspection without having to wait for the original registration. If the vehicle passes the inspection, an inspection sticker will be issued to the vehicle for it to be circulated on the road. When the original vehicle registration is available, the vehicle owner takes it to the inspection center to record it in the inspection file and is issued a registration certificate.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/xe-doi-bien-chua-doi-dang-ky-lam-sao-de-dang-kiem-192250306231421551.htm