Proposal to return license plate when selling car

In the draft Circular regulating the process of granting and revoking registration and license plates of road motor vehicles, the Ministry of Public Security proposes that, in the case of handing over a vehicle to an organization or individual (purchased or given, gifted, transferred) in another province or centrally-run city, the vehicle owner must return the registration and license plate to the vehicle registration agency. If in the same province, the vehicle owner only has to return the registration certificate; Vehicles with old license plates (license plates with only 3 numbers) must return both the registration and license plate.

The Ministry of Public Security also stipulates that within 30 days from the date of making the vehicle ownership transfer documents, the organization or individual (buying, being transferred, given, or gifted the vehicle) must go to the vehicle registration agency to complete the registration transfer procedures according to regulations.

Lieutenant Colonel Pham Viet Cong, Head of the Vehicle Registration Department of the Traffic Police Department, said that for vehicles bought and sold and moving within the same province, if the license plate has 4-5 numbers, it is not necessary to return it, but it is mandatory to transfer ownership and name to the buyer. In case the buyer wants a new license plate, he still has to go through the procedure of returning the old license plate. Also according to the representative of the Traffic Police Department, "this proposal is to add more responsibility to the vehicle seller".

The Head of the Vehicle Registration Department of the Traffic Police Department also added that the regulation that vehicle owners must return their registration and license plates when selling will help authorities better manage vehicles, know whose vehicles are on the road, and apply more effective cold fines via cameras.

To simplify administrative procedures for this field, the representative of the Traffic Police Department added that the unit is currently scanning vehicle records nationwide to upload to the common vehicle registration data system. It is expected that in early 2020, when this data can run, people will not have to go through the procedure of withdrawing records when buying and selling vehicles, but only need to bring the sales contract, officers can look it up on the system and complete the license plate issuance and new registration records.