Guidelines on Vehicle Ownership Transfer Procedures When the Owner Cannot Be Found
According to your information, the vehicle has been transferred through multiple owners without completing the title transfer procedure, so when you purchased from the most recent seller, that person was also not the original owner. Your current task is to guide the procedure for registration and transferring the vehicle's title to relocate the vehicle to another province.
Article 24, Clause 2 of Circular 15/2014/TT-BCA, which regulates vehicle registration as issued by the Minister of Public Security, prescribes the procedure for title transfer and relocating a vehicle to another province as follows:
a) In case the current user of the vehicle has a document for the transfer of vehicle ownership from the person named on the vehicle registration certificate and the last seller's transfer document, the file includes:
- 02 application forms for title transfer and vehicle relocation (form No. 03 issued with this Circular) with a commitment from the current vehicle user to take legal responsibility for the registration procedure, with confirmation of the permanent address of the current vehicle user by the local Police at the place of vehicle user's permanent residence.
- Ownership transfer document from the person named on the vehicle registration certificate and the last seller's transfer document.
- Vehicle registration certificate, vehicle license plate. In case of loss of the vehicle registration certificate or license plate, the reason must be clearly stated in the application form for title transfer and vehicle relocation (form No. 03 issued with this Circular).
b) In case the current user of the vehicle does not have a document for transfer of vehicle ownership, the file includes:
- 02 application forms for title transfer and vehicle relocation (form No. 03 issued with this Circular) with a commitment from the current vehicle user to take legal responsibility for the registration procedure, with confirmation of the permanent address of the current vehicle user by the local Police at the place of vehicle user's permanent residence.
- Vehicle registration certificate, vehicle license plate. In case of loss of the vehicle registration certificate or license plate, the reason must be clearly stated in the application form for title transfer and vehicle relocation (form No. 03 issued with this Circular).
The responsibility lies with the vehicle registration authority to receive the file, check the correct procedure, and handle the vehicle title transfer within the legally defined deadline.
Thus, even if the previous owner cannot be found, and there is no transfer document, it is still possible to register the vehicle title transfer according to the above regulations.
For more detailed information on vehicle title transfer, please refer to the following articles:
- Within how many days must you complete the transfer procedure for a gifted vehicle?
- How is the late transfer of a motorcycle title penalized?
Sincerely!
