LTO License Plate Verification

You may have heard of stories where car owners are accused that the car they're driving is not duly registered, even if they show the Official Receipt - LTO Car Registration. This, of course, is just a tactic for policemen to get bribe money.

Verification of license plates may come handy at anytime you need it, especially when you face odd situations during checkpoints or when you want to verify the registration of a second-hand car you're planning to buy.

Know how to get a verification through SMS after the jump.

According to Lito Villarama of LTO, they have a new verification system for any Car Plate number, whether they are used in old/brand new cars or whether it is filed genuinely at any LTO office or not. Through the use of your mobile phone, just key in the following:

LTO(space)VEHICLE(space)XXX000 and send to 2600

(e.g. LTO VEHICLE THE175)

An auto-generated reply will be received after a few seconds/minutes after sending. The message will include the information such as Car Plate, Model, Year, Color, Date of Last Registration, LTO Aprehension (if any), and LTO Alarm (if any). Each successful inquiry will cost you P2.50.

I tried this out by sending an inquiry about our car's registration, and I got a reply that states the following:

Plate no: the175/Make: mitsubishi/ Model: lancer/ Year: 1993/ Color: m.blue/ Registered last 05/18/2009, has no LTO apprehension, has no LTO alarm.

Other LTO services are indicated below:

Try it out for yourself and comment below. Are there any discrepancies with your car's records?