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Under the Motor Vehicles Act, all the vehicles that are operating on the road in the country must be assigned a registration number. For registration of a vehicle in Tamil Nadu, the owner must acquire a registration number. To complete the procedure, the owner must provide the necessary documents as well.
You can apply for the online vehicle registration in the state through Form 20(Form 20 also includes the inspection certificate for the vehicle).
Other documents that should be submitted along with Form 20 for the RTO registration are:
Form 21 (includes sales certificate)
Form 22 (self-declaration of the applicant stating they would comply with the pollution standards and safety procedures)
Form 22A (If the vehicle's body has been fabricated separately, then the applicant must fill up this form)
Proof of vehicle insurance
For a trailer or semi-trailer, the design approval certificate that is issued by STA must be provided.
Sales certificate must be included in Form 21 if the applicant is ex-army personnel.
A copy of PAN Card or Form 60/61
Vehicle Insurance Certificate
Address Proof
The documents must be submitted to the Regional Transport Officer or the Motor Vehicles Inspector. To obtain RTO registration, the applicant must submit the necessary documents to the RTO for verification. Usually, it takes three working days to receive the registration number from the RTO.
The documents that must be submitted to get a permanent registration number are:
Form 20
Form 21
Form 22
Form 22A should be submitted if the vehicle has been fabricated
Copy of PAN Card or Form 60/61
Vehicle Insurance
Address Proof
Passport size photographs
Document that shows the lifetime tax applicable to the vehicle.
Unladen Weight Certificate also must be produced for commercial vehicles.
The temporary registration certificate must be produced for vehicles that have registered their vehicle temporarily.
The vehicle also must be submitted at the RTO for its examination.
It takes roughly three working days for the applicant to receive his/her permanent registration number.
If an individual wishes to change the address on the registration certificate, then they'll be required to submit the following documents to the nearest RTO:
Form 33 (form required for the initiation of the change of address)
Address Proof (this document must be an address proof of the current address)
Registration certificate of the vehicle
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer.
The documents that must be submitted by an applicant for the issue of a duplicate registration certificate are:
Form 26
Police Verification Certificate
Document which states that the vehicle tax has been paid to the state government.
Income tax statement of the four quarters.
Insurance Certificate of the vehicle
NOC from the financier
You will be receiving your Duplicate registration certificate within five working days.
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer.
In the registration certificate of the vehicle, the owner can also acquire a hire/purchase agreement. The documents that must be submitted to get the approval for a hire/purchase agreement is:
Form 34
Registration Certificate of the Vehicle
Insurance Certificate of the Vehicle
Income Tax Statement for the last 4 quarters
Pollution Control Certificate
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer. Usually, it takes a single working day to receive the approval for agreement through the registration certificate.
The owner of a vehicle can choose to cancel/drop-out of the hire/purchase agreement of the vehicle. The documents that are necessary for receiving approval for the termination of a hire/purchase agreement are:
Form 35 (this application form is used to intimate that the applicant wishes to terminate or discard the existing agreement
Certificate of registration
Income tax statement for the last 4 quarters
Pollution Control Certificate
NOC from the financier
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer. Usually, it takes a single working day to receive the approval for the elimination of an agreement.
The owner of the vehicle can also apply for the renewal of registration. For a non-transport vehicle, the vehicle owner must renew the registration every 15 years and the registration renewal must be completed within 60 days before the expiry of the registration. The documents which are necessary to renew the registration are:
Form 25 (this form can be used to apply for the renewal of registration)
Certificate of Registration
Income tax statement for the last 4 quarters
Pollution Control Certificate
NOC from the financier
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer. Usually, it takes a single working day to receive the renewed registration number from the RTO.
The owner of the vehicle can apply for the re-registration of the vehicle if the ownership from the previous state in which he/she resided. The documents required for the transfer of ownership are:
Form 20
Form 27
Form 28
Form 33
Form 30
Registration Certificate of the vehicle
Income Tax Statement
Insurance Certificate
Certificate from the local Police Station which states that the vehicle owner has not been involved in any criminal activities.
Address Proof
Pollution Under Control certificate
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer. Usually, it takes around 90 working days to receive the re-registration number due to ownership transfer from the RTO.
For transferring a vehicle's ownership from one state to another, the vehicle owner must file Form 28 for the approval of no objection from the RTO. The applicant must submit at least four copies of Form 28 to the RTO. The documents that must be submitted along with Form 28 are:
Tax Clearance Certificate must be submitted if the vehicle is used for commercial purposes.
Registration Certificate of the vehicle
Income Tax Statement
Insurance Certificate
Certificate from the local Police Station which states that the vehicle owner has not been involved in any criminal activities.
The documents must be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer. Usually, it takes around 30 working days to receive the no-objection certificate from the RTO.
For temporary registration of the vehicle, the fees that need to be paid is 50 rupees.
The registration cost of different types of vehicles is mentioned below:
Type of vehicle |
Fees to be paid in Rs. |
M/CY. |
60 |
Light motor vehicle |
200 |
Medium motor vehicle |
400 |
Heavy motor vehicle |
300 |
Imported vehicle |
800 |
Penalty for delay in the application submission:
Time period |
Fees in Rs. |
Up to 30 days |
40 |
Up to 60 days |
75 |
More than 60 days |
150 |
After expiry of temporary registration, every 30 days |
40 |
Delay in application submission for change in address:
Delay (in number of days) |
Fees in Rs. |
Up to 30 days |
40 |
Up to 60 days |
75 |
Above 60 days |
150 |
Cost of Duplicate Registration:
Type of vehicle |
Fees to be paid in Rs. |
M/CY. |
30 |
Light motor vehicle |
150 |
Medium motor vehicle |
200 |
Heavy motor vehicle |
300 |
Imported vehicle |
400 |
Cost of Renewal of Registration Certificate
Type of vehicle |
Charges levied in Rs. |
M/CY |
60 |
Light Motor Vehicle |
200 |
Imported Vehicle |
800 |
Cost of delay in renewal of registration
Time period |
Fine in Rs. |
Up to 30 days |
40 |
Up to 60 days |
75 |
More than 60 days |
150 |
For transfer of ownership of the vehicle, the charges levied by the Tamil Nadu transport department are:
Type of vehicle |
Fees to be paid in Rs. |
M/CY. |
30 |
Light motor vehicle |
100 |
Medium motor vehicle |
200 |
Heavy motor vehicle |
300 |
Imported vehicle |
400 |
The late fees to be paid for the transfer of ownership is as follows:
Time period |
Fine in Rs. |
Up to 30 days |
40 |
Up to 60 days |
75 |
More than 60 days |
150 |
The charges to be paid for the re-registration of the vehicle are:
Type of vehicle |
Fees to be paid in Rs. |
M/CY. |
60 |
Light motor vehicle |
200 |
Medium motor vehicle |
400 |
Heavy motor vehicle |
600 |
Imported vehicle |
800 |
The charges to be paid for the obtain a fitness certificate for a transport vehicle are:
Type of vehicle |
Fees to be paid in Rs. |
Light motor vehicle |
300 |
Medium motor vehicle |
400 |
Heavy motor vehicle |
500 |
To receive only a temporary certificate, the charges are:
Type of vehicle |
Fees to be paid in Rs. |
Light motor vehicle |
300 |
Medium motor vehicle |
400 |
Heavy motor vehicle |
500 |
Allotment of advance registration numbers by the government is as follows:
Type of Registration Number |
Cost of Registration (?) |
For the first four series |
40,000. |
For 5th to 8th series, |
60,000 |
For 9th and 10th series registration numbers |
1 Lakh |
For 11th and 12th series |
2 Lakh |
For motorcycles that fall under the ‘less than 50 cc’ category |
1,000 |
For motorcycles that fall under the ‘more than 50 cc’ category |
2,000 |
For vehicles that cost less than Rs. 4 Lakh |
10,000 |
For all vehicles that cost more than Rs. 4 Lakh |
16,000 |
If the registration number falls within the 100 series of the RTO, then the vehicle owner must obtain an advance registration number for the same. The list of documents that are required to be submitted to complete the alteration of a vehicle are:
Registration Certificate of the vehicle
Insurance Certificate of the vehicle
Income tax statement
Pollution under control certificate
Certificate necessary for the vehicle alteration
The above-listed documents need to be submitted to the Grade 1 Motor Vehicle Inspector or the RT Officer.
The allotment of the advance registration number is usually completed within 3 working days.
A few registration numbers are allotted exclusively to the government vehicles and are reserved by the government. List of such registration numbers can be found in the following link https://www.tn.gov.in/sta/eng%20cc/Govt_Numbers.PDF