Vahan RC
Look up vehicle registration details.
This tool reads a vehicle's registration record from Vahan, the national vehicle register run by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and lays it out the way a checker reads it: registered owner and owner serial, RC status, and the five dated obligations - registration, fitness, insurance, PUCC and road tax - each marked valid, expiring soon or expired.
Below that it lists the registering office, insurer and policy number, PUCC number, make, model, class, fuel, chassis and engine numbers, weights and the full owner history. You can search by registration number, chassis number or engine number.
What is Vahan RC?
Vahan is the national register of motor vehicles maintained by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and built and run by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Every Regional Transport Office (RTO) records registrations, transfers, hypothecations, fitness renewals and tax payments into it; insurers and PUC centres push certificates into the same record. The registration certificate (RC) summarises that record for one vehicle.
Registration is governed by Chapter IV of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989. Section 41(7) makes an RC valid for fifteen years from issue and renewable after that; CMVR rule 52 sets the renewal procedure (Form 25) and, for transport vehicles, ties RC validity to the fitness certificate. Earlier versions of Vahan ran office by office; the web-based Vahan 4.0 consolidated them into one national database, which the Parivahan portal, mParivahan and government APIs such as ULIP read from.
Recent changes target ageing vehicles. From 1 April 2022 renewing the RC of a car older than fifteen years costs ₹5,000 (₹1,000 for a two-wheeler); a notification of 21 August 2025 doubled that past twenty years - ₹10,000 for light motor vehicles, ₹2,000 for motorcycles, ₹5,000 for three-wheelers. Government vehicles are deregistered and scrapped at fifteen years (rule 52A, from 1 April 2023). Transport vehicles are fitness-tested at an Automated Testing Station wherever one is operational, from 1 October 2024. On 4 August 2026 the Supreme Court directed that new cars carry four years and new two-wheelers six years of third-party insurance, up from the three and five years in force since 1 September 2018.
How a vehicle record is built
A registration mark encodes where the vehicle was first registered: a two-letter state code (UP, MH, KA), a two-digit RTO code, series letters and a number up to 9999. The exception is the Bharat (BH) series, introduced by the Central Motor Vehicles (Twentieth Amendment) Rules, 2021 from 15 September 2021 and formatted YY BH #### XX. Vahan also indexes the chassis number (the 17-character VIN stamped on the body) and the engine number, which is why this tool accepts all three.
The record grows over the vehicle's life. The dealer files Form 20 and the RTO issues the RC with the manufacturer's data - make, model, class, body type, fuel, emission norms, cubic capacity, seating and weights. Each later transaction adds a dated field: a policy through the Insurance Information Bureau feed, a PUC certificate in the common national format notified in June 2021, a fitness certificate, a tax receipt, or a transfer under section 50 that increments the owner serial.
- 1
First registration
The dealer submits Form 20 with the sale certificate, insurance and road-worthiness certificate; the RTO allots the mark and records the specifications. Since 1 April 2019 the high-security plate and colour-coded sticker come factory-fitted.
- 2
Insurance and PUCC feeds
Insurers report every policy to the Insurance Information Bureau, which updates the insurer, policy number and validity on Vahan. PUC centres issue certificates straight into the national PUC database.
- 3
Fitness and tax
Transport vehicles renew fitness every two years up to eight years of age, then annually. Road tax is paid to the state - once for life on most private vehicles (LTT), periodically for commercial ones.
- 4
Ownership transfer
Seller files Form 29, buyer files Form 30 within 14 days (45 days for an interstate move); on death, Form 31 within three months. The owner serial increments and the previous owner moves into the history table. A lender's hypothecation (Form 34) stays on the RC until Form 35 clears it.
- 5
Renewal or scrapping
At fifteen years a private vehicle is re-registered under rule 52 after a fitness inspection; government vehicles are cancelled and scrapped.
How to check with Vahan RC
- 1
Pick a search method
Choose Vehicle Number, Chassis Number or Engine Number from the picker. The field label, hint and sample change with it; input is upper-cased as you type.
- 2
Enter the value and press Check
A registration number must be 5-11 letters and digits with no spaces. Chassis and engine numbers are sent as typed. The query is mirrored into the page URL so the result can be shared.
- 3
Read the result
The headline card shows the registration number, make and model, status badge, emission norms and the registered owner. The Compliance at a glance strip has five tiles - Registration, Fitness, Insurance, PUCC, Road tax. Cards for Registration, Insurance, PUCC & tax, Vehicle and Owner history follow; use Show more to expand a long owner list, and Share or PDF from the toolbar.
Why check a vehicle's RC
Know who really owns it
The registered owner and owner serial are what the RTO recognises in a transfer. A seller who is not the registered owner, or an undisclosed second or third owner, changes the price and the paperwork.
Avoid a roadside fine
An expired PUCC costs up to ₹10,000 under section 190(2); no insurance is ₹2,000 for a first offence under section 196; an expired RC falls under section 192. The five tiles show each of these before the checkpost does.
Match the metal to the record
Chassis and engine numbers on Vahan should match the stamped numbers on the vehicle. A mismatch points to a rebuilt, cloned or stolen vehicle, and the RTO will refuse a transfer until it is resolved.
Check the status flag
Only an Active RC transfers and insures normally. Suspended, Cancelled or Blacklisted flags trace back to unpaid dues, a police case or an expired registration, and take months to clear.
Reading the result
Labels are as they appear in the result. Fields the RTO has not recorded are left out of the cards; the compliance tiles say Not on record.
- Registration number
- The mark as held in Vahan, with make and model. Badges show the RC status (Active in green, anything else in amber), the emission norms and the category.
- Registered owner
- Name on the RC, the owner serial as an ordinal (1st owner, 2nd owner) and the owner type - individual, company, government.
- Compliance at a glance
- Five tiles for Registration, Fitness, Insurance, PUCC and Road tax, each with its expiry date and a status: Valid, Expires in N d (30 days or fewer), Expired N d ago, or Lifetime for one-time road tax.
- Registered at and Registration date
- The RTO holding the record (code and state on the RTO / State line) and the date of first registration. Registration valid upto is fifteen years on for a private vehicle, or the fitness expiry for a transport vehicle.
- Insurer and Policy no.
- The insurer and policy number reported through the Insurance Information Bureau, with Insurance valid upto and a Yes/No Insurance valid flag as Vahan computes it.
- PUCC no. and PUCC valid upto
- The pollution certificate number and its expiry. New vehicles need none for the first year from registration; after that it is renewed on the rule 115(7) schedule.
- Tax valid upto
- Road tax paid-up date from the state's record. LTT means lifetime tax paid once at registration; commercial vehicles show a quarterly or annual date.
- Chassis no. and Engine no.
- The identifiers stamped on the body and engine block, as recorded at first registration. Some states mask part of the chassis number.
- Class and Category
- Class is the CMVR vehicle class (Motor Car, Motor Cycle, Goods Carrier); category is the broader group (LMV, HMV) that decides which licence may drive it.
- Owner history
- One row per owner on record - serial, name, registering office and state - four shown, the rest behind Show more. The current owner is the last row.
Example input
UP91L0001
Two-letter state code, two-digit RTO code, series letters and the number, exactly as on the plate but without spaces or hyphens. BH-series marks such as 24BH1234AB also work.
Who uses it
Used vehicle purchase
Confirm the seller is the registered owner, count the previous owners, check the RC is Active and match the chassis and engine numbers against the ones stamped on the vehicle.
Fleet dispatch checks
Transport operators check fitness, insurance, PUCC and tax expiry before a truck leaves the yard - an expired document means a challan or an impounded vehicle at the next checkpost.
Insurance and claims
Insurers and surveyors verify the insured vehicle's make, model, class, fuel and owner against Vahan before issuing or settling a policy.
Incident and dispute follow-up
After an accident, a hit-and-run or a parking dispute, a plate number is enough to establish the registered owner and the RTO that holds the record.
Common problems
No vehicle record found for a valid number
Type the mark exactly as on the RC with no spaces or hyphens, and try zero against the letter O. Registrations a few days old, and some paper-era records that were never migrated, are not in Vahan 4.0; the holding RTO can update the record.
Insurance shows as expired but the policy is current
The insurer must report the policy to the Insurance Information Bureau before Vahan updates. Ask the insurer to push it (usually same day) and carry the policy PDF until the record refreshes.
Previous owner still shown after the sale
The transfer has not been filed or approved. The buyer files Form 30 with the seller's Form 29 within 14 days (45 days interstate); until then challans land on the old owner. Track the application under Vehicle Related Services on parivahan.gov.in.
RC status is Suspended, Cancelled or Blacklisted
Suspended usually means an expired registration or fitness; Blacklisted means a police or RTO case. Clear pending challans through the eChallan tool, then approach the authority that raised the flag with the originals. Expect weeks to months.
Registration expiring after fifteen years
Apply under rule 52 with Form 25 before expiry, after a fitness check at the RTO or an Automated Testing Station. Fees are ₹5,000 for a car and ₹1,000 for a two-wheeler past fifteen years, doubling past twenty (notified 21 August 2025). Delhi-NCR bars diesel vehicles over ten years and petrol over fifteen regardless of renewal.
Frequently asked questions
Glossary
- Vahan
- The NIC-built national vehicle register under MoRTH; version 4.0 is the current web-based system every RTO writes to.
- RTO
- Regional Transport Office - the state registering authority identified by the state code and two-digit office code in the registration mark.
- Owner serial
- The running count of registered owners on an RC; a first owner is serial 1 and each approved transfer adds one.
- Hypothecation
- The lender's charge noted on an RC for a financed vehicle under section 51; entered with Form 34, cleared with Form 35 and the lender's NOC.
- Fitness certificate
- Form 38 certificate of road-worthiness for transport vehicles under CMVR rule 62; two-year validity to eight years of age, then annual.
- PUCC
- Pollution Under Control Certificate under CMVR rule 115(7), issued by an authorised centre and pushed to Vahan in a common national format.
- HSRP
- High Security Registration Plate under CMVR rule 50 - hologram, laser-etched code and snap locks, factory-fitted since 1 April 2019 and required on older vehicles by state orders.
- BS norms
- Bharat Stage emission standards. BS-IV became mandatory for new sales on 1 April 2017 and BS-VI on 1 April 2020; the stage is recorded on the RC as the emission norms.