SMS Returns for Vehicle Registration Details Again

With the number of car sales and registrations on the rise, the need for improved transparency is greater than ever. Previously, the government had introduced a service, wherein vehicle details could be acquired, simply by sending the registration number (via SMS) to a designated phone number. The service was discontinued, but is now active once again.

The service can prove to be useful in preventing fraud in second hand car sales and bring in more accountability among motorists. To use the service, all you have to do is SMS VAHAN <space> the vehicle's registration number (upper case letters with no spaces), and send it to 7738299899.

Details such as the vehicle owner's name, the car's model, fuel type, category (e.g. LMV), RC expiry date and motor vehicle tax validity will be received via SMS in around 1 minute.

Note - The service may not be active for all RTOs and certain vehicle registration numbers may not be in the database.

Probabilities

Users of this service think the querying mechanism should have safeguards to ensure that individual privacy is upheld. Like everything else related to government in the country, there just isn’t proper thought behind the policy.

Right now anyone can get the name of the owner of any vehicle on the road by a simple SMS. Whether the person enquiring is stalking someone in a car for any reason, they can get the owners name. Getting the address is just a short hop from there leading to disastrous consequences for someone a target of criminals.

There should be a two stage authentication to ensure that person querying is in possession of the vehicle - if the primary motive is to find out if registration etc details are real or fake. Before providing details, the chassis or engine numbers or maybe both should also be input to validate that the person making the query has physical possession of the vehicle.

Source: Team-Bhp

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