Official LTO Memo: Engine, chassis number stencil for “plain renewal” vehicle registration no longer required
The LTO is at it again with its push for “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service”. Its latest Memorandum Circular and one of the last that former agency Chief Atty. Jay Art Tugade signed refers to the stenciling of a vehicle’s engine and chassis numbers. For plain renewal of motor vehicles, stenciling is no longer required.
LTO does away with engine, chassis number stenciling for motor vehicle registration renewal
Photo: LTO
The subject of Memorandum Circular No. JMT-2023-2399 was “Removal of Stencil as Requirement in ‘Plain Renewal’ Registration Transactions”. Simply put, if a motor vehicle is being renewed under the same owner, if it is not being transferred to a new owner, and if it does not involve a new engine in an old car with an existing registration, the LTO and its personnel will no longer have to create a new stencil for both the car’s engine and chassis numbers.
Apart from those conditions, the most important is that the vehicle must have (already) undergone and passed the physical inspection certifying its roadworthiness and that the details indicated in its Certificate of Registration such as the vehicle’s make, year model, and license plates indeed match what’s physically on the vehicle itself.
The Memorandum Circular was signed on May 22, 2023, and was registered on May 25.
Now that this is no longer a requirement, we’d like to think that the registration renewal process can and will be just a little bit faster. Engine and chassis numbers were relatively easy to reach back then, but with all the plastic engine covers and other things you find in today’s modern car engine bays, it’s become a little tougher to squeeze into the nooks and crannies where these numbers can be found.
Seeing as the Land Transportation Office has also launched an online registration renewal process 20, this is a lot more convenient for everyone, indeed.
