MANILA - The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Friday reminded motor vehicle dealers to display the prescribed processing time for vehicle registration to help inform their customers and ensure its timely completion.

In a statement, LTO chief Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo Tugade, said the processing time for vehicle registration must be displayed "prominently" in their showrooms -- from initial registration to the issuance of their Original Receipt/Certificate of Registration (OR/CR) and the release of license plates.

"The display of vehicle registration processing time in their own showrooms will keep dealers on their toes to assure that they comply, and likewise allow the public that they have the power to report to the government any delays because as paying customers, they deserve to be served better," Tugade said.

The order was earlier released through an LTO memorandum dated Jan. 6, 2023 titled "Processing time from date of sale to release of plates and mandatory posting of the same at the showroom area of dealers."

The memorandum broke down the registration of brand-new vehicles into five steps with a processing time of seven to 11 days.

The first step in vehicle registration is its purchase (day one), followed by the dealer processing the requirements (two to three days), and reporting the sale and initial registration to the LTO (one to two days).

The fourth step is where the LTO will register the motor vehicle, release the OR/CR, and plate number to the dealer (two to three days), and lastly, the dealer will inform the new vehicle owner to claim their OR/CR and license plate (one to two days).

To ensure compliance, the memorandum directed all LTO regional officials, through their Regional Accreditation Committees (RACs), to submit a monthly report on the number of issued plates per dealership, including those that may have violated the order.

Dealers that fail to comply will be issued show-cause orders and fined.

"For motor vehicle dealers, non-compliance with this memorandum may merit appropriate sanctions under Section 9 of LTO Administrative Order No. AVT-2014-023, such as a PHP100,000 fine for the first offense," the memorandum read.

The second offense will merit a PHP500,000 fine and not more than six months suspension.

Those who violate the memorandum for a third time will face cancellation of their certificate of accreditation, blacklisting, and cancellation of their certificate of stock reported, sales report, and registration "if warranted."

Motorcycle dealers, on the other hand, will pay penalties under Memorandum Circular 2021-2294 if they fail to register a motorcycle within five days.

Motorcycle dealers will also be sanctioned under the memorandum if they fail to comply with the fifth step in vehicle registration. (PNA)