LTO to temporarily allow car owners to print their own license plates

Starting today, the Land Transportation Office will be enforcing the “No Registration, No Travel” policy, where no four-wheel motor vehicle can be used, driven, or operated on the roads without being duly registered with the LTO.

This means car owners must have their car plates installed or else they will be fined. If apprehended, car owners could face up to Php10,000 in fine while the driver can be penalized up to Php1,000.

“According to the LTO, all license plates for new vehicles whose original registrations were applied for at the NCR Regional Office have been released to the dealers as of March 19,” said DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya. As such there is no reason for new car owners not to have their plates installed.

Design and lay-out of the new vehicle license plates.

However, due to the confusion and problems with a lot of car dealerships, many new car owners have not gotten their new license plates because of the fault of the dealers.

As such, the LTO has allowed another 30 days extension to all new car owners as long as they have proof that the fault lies with their respective dealers.

As a temporary relief, and for car drivers to avoid being apprehended for the next 30 days, car owners may optionally print an LTO-designed default plates. There are 4 plates to choose from and each one looks like a commemorative plate.

You may download them below for printing:

Temporarily LTO license plates that may be printed by car owners.

The 4th design will also allow owners to avoid being part of the number-coding scheme.

Any color printer would do and the plate needs to be at the standard size of 390mm x 140mm. It should be then pasted on a cardboard and protected by plastic to prevent wear and tear from the weather.

These temporary license plates will only be used from April 1 until April 30.

Contest Apprehension within 5 Days if Fault is Due to Dealer

The applicable penalties for a violation of the No Registration-No Travel rule under Joint Administrative Order 2014-01 include a P 10,000.00 fine for driving an unregistered vehicle, which is assessed against the vehicle owner, and a P 1,000.00 fine assessed against the driver.

If the driver is able to present a Certificate of Registration (CR) and an Official Receipt (OR) of the vehicle to prove that it has been registered, the driver will be fined only P 5,000.00 for failure to attach plates.

In these latter cases, however, for vehicle owners who believe that the fault is due to their dealers’ delay, the LTO advises them to contest the apprehension by filing a written protest within five (5) days from apprehension. This will allow the LTO to look into the potential fault of the dealer and take appropriate action, if warranted.

The LTO may impose fines, or suspend or even revoke the accreditation of erring dealerships.

More information can be found at the GOV.ph Official Gazette here and the LTO website.