How to Register a Vehicle That's Not In Your Name And Was Shipped From The Province with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) - Part 1

Was that title a mouthful or not?  Well that's my situation.  I'll tell you right off that I haven't done this successfully yet so there will certainly be a part 2.  Here are the details.  I bought a Suzuki Multicab from Don Soriano / Kevin Yao (I found them in Sulit). The first thing that happened was that they processed the deed of sale (and collected the money).  I'm not sure exactly how that works, but I did find a deed of sale form in National Book Store.  Imagine that.  It's a template.  I was advised that I just needed to carry that around in case I had some episode with police (like a traffic violation).  That was in November.  Take note of the dates. They're relevant. 

Fast forward to February or roughly +3 months. I need to register the vehicle in Manila, but the past registration was in Cebu.  Which LTO should I take this vehicle to?  Well I asked our driver to bring it to LTO East Ave so that it's close.  Before you even get to register, you need an emission testing.  The address according to the bill was in Diliman.  That should be a good 10-minute drive or so I would guess (I wasn't there).  The cost was P415.  Then you need third party liability insurance.  I'm not sure where, but it was probably on-site.  The cost was P610.  Then, they need to stencil the the body number of the vehicle.  That The cost was P60.

Here's where the adventure stops for now.  The LTO guys were asking for something called the Customs Clearance Payment.  I believe that's the tax for moving the vehicle from Cebu to Manila.  It should be with the seller of the vehicle.  Unfortunately, it's very hard to contact the sellers.  They're not what you might call responsive.  If he does get my the Customs Clearance Payment, the adventure continues.

On the background, the seller also has to facilitate the change in name with the LTO.  If you attempt to change the name in LTO (as I did), here's what will happen.  They will ask you for a Police Clearance and the change of name has to be facilitated in the LTO where the vehicle was initially registered (Cebu!).  According to Kevin, as the seller they process it in batches and that it's still in process. (note the dates)  In this case, when I do successfully renew hopefully within the week, it will still be under his name.  In 2011, when I register again, it would automatically be changed to my name.  I can tell you if it's correct a year from now.

So my tip is to think twice before buying a vehicle.  Check the registration papers.  It gets messy if you don't.

 Read part 2

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