Find your Mumbai RTO office: MH-01, MH-02, MH-03 or MH-47

Read a Mumbai plate like MH 02 AB 1234 from left to right, in four parts. MH stands for Maharashtra, 02 is the code of the Andheri office that serves the western suburbs, AB is the letter series and 1234 is the four-digit number.

Worth knowing: An Andheri car sold to a buyer in Colaba still has MH-02, as the code shows the office of first registration, not the owner’s present address. The MH-02 code does not change when you move anywhere in Maharashtra. You get a different code only if the car is re-registered in another state or its registration details are changed.

A Mumbai car bought new from 1 April 2019 left the showroom with its High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) fitted, and the Maharashtra transport department says such a car need not reapply.

To book the installation for an older car, use the booking portal named on the Maharashtra transport department website, where you can also check the date for your MH-01, MH-02, MH-03 or MH-47 car. A fitment centre adds no fitment charge, but fitment at home costs extra. The full plate rules are on our Maharashtra RTO guide.

Mumbai city uses four codes, which the transport department lists under five offices. The second table covers the offices around the city, which carry their own codes even though people often call them Mumbai.

Two names trip people up. The office everyone calls Borivali RTO (MH-47) is in Dahisar West, and Worli is not a fifth code: The department lists it as Mumbai (East)-2 under MH-03, for private (non-transport) vehicles only, not taxis or goods vehicles.

Mumbai has five office listings for its four codes, and the area lists below come from the transport department’s own pincode table. Mumbai RTO opening hours, at all five offices, could not be confirmed from an official source, so it is wise to check with your office before you go.

Tardeo RTO office, MH-01

Tardeo is the Mumbai (Central) office, and its patch is far bigger than South Mumbai. The official list runs from Colaba and Nariman Point through Parel and Dadar to Mahim, Dharavi, Sion and Wadala, so a Worli or Matunga address is MH-01.

Andheri RTO office, MH-02

Andheri is the Mumbai (West) office, in Ambivali Village, Andheri West, and it handles the western suburbs from Bandra up to Jogeshwari and Oshiwara. Goregaon is not on its official list, so do not assume a Goregaon address belongs here.

Wadala RTO office, MH-03

The Mumbai (East)-1 office is in the Wadala Truck Terminal, but its name misleads. Wadala, Antop Hill, Sion and Matunga are on the MH-01 list, while this office takes the eastern suburbs from Kurla, Chembur and Powai out to Mulund, Mankhurd and Trombay.

Worli RTO office, MH-03

Worli is not a separate code. The transport department lists it as Mumbai (East)-2, part of MH-03, for private vehicles only (not taxis or goods vehicles), and publishes no area list for it. Living in Worli does not make this your office, since Worli and Prabhadevi are on the MH-01 list.

With an MH-03 car, ask the Wadala office whether your task can be done at Worli before you make the trip.

Borivali RTO office in Dahisar West, MH-47

Search for Borivali RTO and you reach this office, which the department names Borivali but which stands at Kandarpada in Dahisar West. It holds MH-47, and no official area list has been published for it.

Directions to Borivali RTO lead to this office in Dahisar West, not to an office in Borivali itself.

Worth knowing: With two MH-03 offices and an MH-47 office outside Borivali, match the code on your Registration Certificate (RC) to the lists above before you set off, and book any driving test slot on Sarathi first.

Find your area in the table to see which office handles your car. The office is set by the address on the Registration Certificate (RC), not by the showroom where you bought the car or the street where you park it.

Worth knowing: The Wadala office does not cover Wadala. A Wadala, Sion or Matunga address goes to Tardeo (MH-01), and Worli addresses go there too, not to the Worli office.

To check, type the registration number into the finder at the top of the page. The result names the registering office, and that office keeps your file.

After a move inside Maharashtra, update the address on the Registration Certificate, then inform your insurer so the policy matches the RC. The registration number itself stays the same.

Every Mumbai registration also attracts a road safety cess charged on the tax, put at 2% in reports, so let Vahan show the final amount for your car.

Whichever of the five offices handles your car, the RTO fee is a national amount, so a Mumbai owner pays at Tardeo what a neighbour in Thane or Navi Mumbai pays at MH-04 or MH-43. Fees go through the Vahan portal, and on a new car the dealer pays them as part of the on-road price.

For example: Finance a new car and register it at Andheri, and the MH-02 office collects ₹2,300 before any road tax, made up of ₹600 to register it, ₹200 for the smart card RC and ₹1,500 to note the loan on it.

An MH-01 car that reaches 15 years pays ₹5,000 to renew its registration at Tardeo, rising to ₹10,000 after 20 years. Each month the renewal runs late adds ₹500 for a car and ₹300 for a motorcycle.

Budget separately for the plate (HSRP), any state service charge and the Maharashtra road tax, as none of them is part of these RTO fees.

Start at the dealer, who files on Vahan, and your address picks the Mumbai code

At the showroom, the dealer files your registration on Vahan, and the office that approves it is the one for your home address. That is why a Juhu buyer gets an MH-02 number and a Chembur buyer an MH-03 number, wherever the car was bought.

A used car is transferred at the Mumbai office named on its RC, for example Wadala for an MH-03 car, or on Vahan. The seller files Form 29, both sign Form 30, and the transfer fee is ₹300 for a car or ₹150 for a motorcycle.

The buyer then has 14 days to move the policy into their own name.

Removing a loan (hypothecation) from the RC in Mumbai

Once the last instalment is paid, submit the lender’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) and Form 35 on Vahan for an RC without the loan, at no fee. The documents for each step are on our Maharashtra RTO guide.

Start most Mumbai RTO work on the Vahan portal for vehicles or the Sarathi portal for licences, and the application goes to the office for your RC address. Maharashtra has also moved the learner licence test online with Aadhaar authentication, so that step needs no trip to Tardeo or Andheri.

Duplicate RC and RC status check in Mumbai

Apply on Form 26 at the office on your RC, such as Andheri for MH-02, if the RC is lost, stolen or damaged, and pay the fee in the fees table. To check the RC status of any MH number, open the Kiwi Insurance RC status check.

Driving licence services in Mumbai

Book licence work on Sarathi, then sit the driving test in person at the office that covers your address. Every online service is listed on our Maharashtra RTO guide.

Whichever of the four Mumbai codes is on your plate, search the MH number on echallan.parivahan.gov.in or in mParivahan to see and pay a challan. The challan shows the amount to pay for each offence.

The full list of fines is on our Maharashtra RTO guide.

If you bring a car from Pune or Nagpur, update only the address: An MH number stays valid in Mumbai. If you bring one from another state, it needs an MH number once it has been kept in Maharashtra for more than 12 months.

If you are leaving Maharashtra with a Mumbai car, the same steps apply in reverse: Ask the RTO on your RC, such as MH-02 in Andheri, for the No Objection Certificate (NOC) on Form 28 before you go, and register the car in the new state.

For that NOC, the Maharashtra transport department asks for an NOC from the Commissioner of Police (or the Superintendent of Police), proof that the motor vehicle tax is paid, and an NOC from the prosecution branch of the office that registered the car. The RTO charges no fee for the NOC itself.

Worth knowing: Once the number or the address changes, inform your insurer straight away. Our Maharashtra RTO guide lists every form needed for a move between states.

If your job could take you out of Maharashtra, ask the Mumbai dealer for a Bharat series (BH) number in place of an MH code. A posting from Andheri to Bengaluru then needs no No Objection Certificate (NOC) and no new registration.

Private sector staff hand the dealer Form 60, signed by an employer with offices in 4 or more states or union territories. The format is YY BH #### XX, where YY is the year of first registration, the four digits are allotted at random, and XX represents the alphabetic series, which can be a single letter or two letters. It is black on a white plate, like any other private car.

Who qualifies and how the 2-year tax works are on our Maharashtra RTO guide.

Most of these start online on the Vahan portal or the Sarathi portal. Print one only if Tardeo, Andheri, Wadala, Worli or Dahisar asks for paper, and send it to the office whose code is on the RC.

Our Maharashtra RTO guide explains when each form is used. Any form missing here is in the list of RTO forms on the Parivahan Sewa website.

How insurance links to the Mumbai RTO

At the dealer, show a valid policy before the Mumbai office registers the car. At a sale, move the RC at the office named on it first, then the policy within 14 days. After a re-registration or a new number, inform your insurer so the policy shows the number on the RC.

Worth knowing: A car registered outside Mumbai, say at Thane or Nashik, keeps its own zone after you move to Mumbai until it is re-registered here. Inform your insurer of the new address all the same.