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PMVIC test will soon be a prerequisite for vehicle registration renewal

This is supposed to lessen the likelihood of inspection results being rigged

Your car had better be in good shape before it shows up at a PMVIC. PHOTO BY MIGGI SOLIDUM

Do you need to renew your car’s (or motorcycle’s) registration in the coming months? Well, you’ll have to make sure that your ride is in good shape because you’ll soon need to have it evaluated by a Private Motor Vehicle Inspection Center (PMVIC) for roadworthiness before its registration can be renewed.

Yes, those controversial testing centers that everyone was up in arms about a few months ago will soon be part of the registration renewal process. Department of Transportation Undersecretary Artemio Tuazon Jr. stressed the importance of this move as part of the agency’s goal to ensure that vehicles are truly roadworthy in an effort to make our roads safer.

DOTr says that the days of paying off your LTO inspector to pass your vehicle are numbered. PHOTO BY MIGGI SOLIDUM

Motorists will still have the option to have their vehicles evaluated by the PMVIC or the LTO. From what we understand, owners will be required to go to the former if there is one operating near the LTO office of their choice. If there isn’t any, an emissions test by a private emission testing center (PETC) and a visual inspection by the LTO will suffice until a PMVIC is opened in that area.

In addition, passing the PMVIC’s visual evaluation and emissions test is supposedly all that is necessary for the registration renewal.

As for how much it will cost to have your vehicle inspected at a PMVIC, Tuazon mentioned that prices are now similar to an emissions test at a PETC. He also urges motorists to simply go to the PMVICs so that LTO branches will not be crowded with people looking to have their vehicles tested. This will also help prevent inspection results being tampered with, and registrants not personally appearing as PMVIC tests are recorded and sent in real time to the LTO’s main database.

Funnily enough, the DOTr hasn’t given an exact date as to when this mandate will take effect. But it’s best to just be prepared for when the PMVIC inspections become obligatory.



Sam Surla

Sam used to be the youngest member of our editorial team when he was our managing editor. He specialized in photography and videography, but he also happened to like writing about cars a lot.



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