How to Get a Duplicate RC for a Lost Vehicle Registration

If your vehicle Registration Certificate is lost, stolen, or mutilated, you get a duplicate by reporting the loss to the police, intimating your registering authority in writing, and applying in Form 26 to the last RTO that registered the vehicle, with the fee set by Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. This is a clear statutory right under Rule 53, and most states now let you start the application online on the Vahan portal at parivahan.gov.in.

The Registration Certificate, your RC, is the legal proof that a vehicle is registered in your name. Without it you cannot sell, transfer ownership, renew insurance smoothly, or satisfy a traffic check. The good news is that the law gives you a defined, low-cost route to replace it.

Rule 53 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 governs the issue of a duplicate certificate of registration. Rule 53(1) says that if the certificate of registration is lost or destroyed, the owner shall report to the police station in whose jurisdiction the loss or destruction occurred and intimate the fact in writing to the registering authority that issued the certificate. Rule 53(2) says the application for a duplicate shall be made in Form 26 to the last registering authority, accompanied by the fee specified in Rule 81.

So two things are statutory, not optional: a police report and a written intimation to your RTO. For a stolen RC, an FIR is the natural form of that report. For a simple loss or a mutilated card, RTOs in practice accept a police acknowledgement or non-traceable report with an affidavit. Treat the police report as required, because Rule 53 requires it.

The central fee is fixed by Rule 81. Under Serial No. 5 of the Rule 81 table, the fee for issue of a duplicate certificate of registration is half of the normal registration fee in Serial No. 4. The registration fees in Serial No. 4 are, for example, ₹60 for a motorcycle and ₹200 for a light non-transport vehicle (a private car). So the central duplicate-RC fee works out to roughly ₹30 for a motorcycle and ₹100 for a private car.

The exact amount varies by state and vehicle class, because states add their own smart-card charge, postal fee, and sometimes user charges on top of the Rule 81 fee. Do not assume one all-India figure. Check the fee shown on Vahan for your RTO at the payment step.

1. Report the loss to the police. File an FIR if the RC was stolen, or lodge a lost-article report if it was simply misplaced. Keep the FIR copy or police acknowledgement.
2. Intimate your RTO in writing. Rule 53(1) requires a written intimation to the registering authority that issued your RC. Many RTOs treat the Form 26 application itself as this intimation, but carry a short covering letter to be safe.
3. Open the Vahan portal. Go to https://parivahan.gov.in, choose Online Services, select your state, and enter your vehicle registration number and chassis number to authenticate.
4. Select the duplicate RC service and fill Form 26. Form 26 is the prescribed application for intimation of loss and issue of a duplicate certificate of registration.
5. Pay the fee online. Pay the Rule 81 fee plus any state charges shown, and save the payment receipt.
6. Clear pending dues first. The RTO will not issue a duplicate while road tax or traffic challans are outstanding, so settle these before you apply.
7. Visit the RTO if asked. Many states classify this as a non-contactless service, so you may need to attend with the vehicle and original documents for verification.
8. Collect or receive the duplicate RC. Once approved, the duplicate is printed as a smart card and sent to your registered address or handed over at the RTO.

• Form 26, the application for a duplicate certificate of registration.
• FIR copy if stolen, or the police lost-article report acknowledgement.
• An affidavit explaining how the RC was lost or destroyed, where the RTO asks for one.
• Valid insurance certificate and a current Pollution Under Control certificate.
• Identity proof and address proof of the registered owner.
• Proof that road tax is paid up to date and no challans are pending.

If the vehicle is still under a hire-purchase, lease, or hypothecation agreement with a financier, Form 26 must be made in duplicate. The registering authority endorses the duplicate copy and returns it to the financier when the new RC is issued. Many lenders also ask for a no-objection or consent letter before you apply, so contact your financier early. Once your loan is fully repaid, you separately remove the hypothecation entry; that is a different RTO process from getting a duplicate RC.

If the duplicate is delayed beyond a reasonable time, you can use the Right to Information Act, 2005 to ask the RTO, a public authority, for the status and the reason for delay. The RTI Act gives you a 30-day response window under Section 7(1) and is a powerful, low-cost way to unstick a pending file. For a full walkthrough of the RTI route, see The RTI Playbook.

A duplicate RC has the same legal force as the original, so once it is in hand you can sell or transfer the vehicle normally. If you plan to sell after replacing the RC, read our guide on how to transfer vehicle ownership after sale so the buyer takes over liability within the 14-day window. The RTI Act, 2005 text is useful if you ever file an information request against your RTO.

For a stolen RC, yes, file an FIR and keep the copy. For a lost or mutilated RC, Rule 53(1) still requires you to report to the police, so lodge at least a lost-article report or a non-traceable certificate. Practice varies by RTO, but treat a police report as required and an FIR as the safest evidence.

Form 26 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. It is the intimation of loss or destruction of the certificate of registration and the application for issue of a duplicate certificate, filed under Rule 53(2) to the last registering authority.

The central fee under Rule 81 is half of the registration fee in Serial No. 4, which is about ₹30 for a motorcycle and ₹100 for a private car. States add their own smart-card and service charges on top, so the final amount varies by state and vehicle class. Always check the figure shown on Vahan.

Yes, in most states you start on the Vahan portal at parivahan.gov.in by selecting Online Services and your state, filling Form 26, and paying the fee. Many states then require an RTO visit for verification, because the duplicate RC is often a non-contactless service.

After you submit Form 26 with all documents and clear any dues, RTOs commonly take around 15 to 30 days to verify and print the smart card. Timelines vary by state and RTO workload, and pending challans or tax will hold up the file.

Make Form 26 in duplicate. The RTO endorses one copy and returns it to your financier when the new RC is issued. Ask your lender for a consent or no-objection letter first, as many require it before processing a duplicate while hypothecation is active.

Lodge the police report today, gather your insurance, PUC, and identity proof, and clear any pending tax or challans. Then open https://parivahan.gov.in, file Form 26 for your state, and pay the fee. If your RTO sits on the file, send a written reminder and, if needed, an RTI request citing Section 7(1) of the RTI Act, 2005. A lost RC is an inconvenience, not a dead end.