How to Get Temporary License Plates?

Last year, several foreign governments have made it compulsory for vehicles to display a permanent license plate. If someone hasn’t yet received the permanent one, the concerned individual must display a temporary license plate. Not just that, a few more rules have also been imposed on vehicle dealers. They can no longer use a pre-printed report of sale form for display. They must get an electronic report of sale, fill the form and do the needful.

Till 2019, the law permitted vehicles to be sold and driven without displaying any license plate for a maximum of 3 months. However, upon inspection, it was found that the absence of license plates has raised safety issues among the public. It has also led to losses in toll income. Consequently, the legislature passed a new law, asking the DMV to bring into effect a temporary license plate system. Currently, the job of providing temporary license plates to new vehicle owners is controlled by DMV.

Independent dealers can provide temporary license plates to their customers if the latter asks to. For that, dealers have to take part in the BPA program. They need to select any of the participating providers to get the electronic reports of sale and deliver temporary license plates.

Dealers who are delivering temporary license plates must ensure that they are correctly fitted to the back and front of the vehicle. Also, the electronic ROS form, especially the identification portion of it has to be pasted on the window of the vehicle when being sold in the manner that is mentioned by law. If the temporary license plate is lost, damaged, or broken, owners must contact their respective dealers and require a reprint of the same.

Documents required for getting the temporary license plate

Owners never get a permanent license plate right on the first day of purchase. Hence, they request a temporary one for 90 days. For requesting they need a few important documents to be attached. We have given a list of them below:

1. Sale certificate or form 21
2. Road Worthiness certificate or form 22
3. Address proof of the owner
4. Vehicle insurance proofs
5. Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUC)
6. Pan Card or Form 60 and 61( optional)

How to get a temporary license plate from my dealer?

Once you have arranged the above-mentioned documents, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Get your insurance done
2. Contact your insurance providers and inform them about your investment. Ask them to draft an insurance policy and hand it over to you. 
3. Visit your local motor vehicles department. 
4. While you register your car under your ownership, apply for a temporary license plate at the same time. 
5. Attach the above-mentioned documents along with the form. 
6. Make the necessary payments. Fee charges also include tax and processing fees. You must note that this chargeable amount differs from state to state.

The information displayed on the temporary license plate

Your temporary license plate is an important asset indicating your ownership of the car. It
will have the following details mentioned in it:

1. The unique temporary license plate number, different for everyone
2. Vehicle identification number 
3. Report of Sale number
4. Vehicle make
5. Vehicle model year
6. The expiration date of the license plate 
7. Quick response (QR) code

People have often asked a few questions about this new system and the temporary license plate. It needs to be mentioned that the unique alphanumeric code found in the temporary license plate will never match that of the permanent license plate. They must also know that these temporary license plates are only valid for 90 days or 3 months. Within that period, owners are asked to strange for their permanent license plates.