Back in July, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced that the license plates and OR/CR of brand-new vehicles would be released within three days or 72 hours of purchase. This was enabled through a new digitized system that sped up correspondence between dealerships and the LTO.
However, the agency recently updated its processing time to release plates and documents on the same day that new vehicles are turned over to their owners. And it looks like vehicles will not be allowed to be released without their official plates and documents. LTO Chief Vigor D. Mendoza II added that, “Once this Memorandum Circular became effective, no brand-new motor vehicle or motorcycle shall be released by the dealers without the LTO license plate/s, and OR/CR.”
Implementation of this same-day release policy will officially start next month, on October 15, 2025. Until then, it looks like the three-day processing time is still in place for car buyers and dealers.
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Additionally, the LTO is aiming to speed up the release of plates and documents to avoid another colossal backlog. Over the last 11 years, 18.5 million license plates were produced to clear a previous shortage.
This eventually led to an ongoing nationwide effort to distribute license plates to vehicle owners. The LTO’s license plate distribution caravan has met with several local government units and private partners to hold events for vehicle owners to claim their plates.
