Tamil Nadu: RTO code list and details

Tamil Nadu RTOs are run by the state Transport Department, and each Regional Transport Office (RTO) has its own TN code. A car registered at Chennai Central, for example, has a number that starts with TN-01.

To read TN 01 AB 1234, split it into four parts: TN for Tamil Nadu, 01 for the RTO that registered the car, AB for the letter series and 1234, the four-digit number.

The code causes the most confusion when a car changes hands or its owner moves. As the code belongs to the office that first registered the car, a car driven in Chennai can carry the code of another district, and a move from Chennai to Coimbatore leaves the code unchanged. A new code is needed only when the car is registered again outside Tamil Nadu or its registration details are changed.

Worth knowing: Since the code only records where the car was first registered, a TN plate is valid on roads anywhere in India.

Older Tamil Nadu cars and HSRP

As the rule also covers vehicles registered before 1 April 2019, an older TN car needs an HSRP fitted by the date Tamil Nadu sets.

Worth knowing: To book an HSRP installation for a TN vehicle, go to the booking portal that the Tamil Nadu Transport Department website names, and confirm the date for your car on that site. As the plate rule was notified by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, its legal basis is G.S.R. 1162(E) of 4 December 2018 together with S.O. 6052 of 6 December 2018.

As each Tamil Nadu RTO has a TN code of its own, the code on a plate points to the office that first registered the vehicle. In Chennai, offices such as Tambaram and Poonamallee are searched for far more than the state as a whole.

Code list pending: Since no official Tamil Nadu Transport Department list could be checked yet, the full list of TN codes, offices and districts is not shown here. In the meantime, the Chennai and city sections below give the codes of the main offices.

As Chennai is split between many RTOs, the city has 14 RTO codes, from TN-01 Chennai Central to TN-22 Meenambakkam. Tambaram (TN-11) and Poonamallee (TN-12) are the offices people search for most. A car shows the code of the office that registered it, whichever part of the city the owner lives in today.

As offices on the edge of Chennai have codes of their own, a car registered at Red Hills shows TN-18, one from Kundrathur TN-85 and one from Chengalpattu TN-19.

As many large towns in Tamil Nadu have more than one RTO, a city can use several TN codes, and Coimbatore, for example, has four. Find your city below, and the codes beside it belong to the offices that register vehicles there.

Salem shows why the code matters: TN-30, TN-54 and TN-90 are three different Salem offices, so check the code on your Registration Certificate (RC) before you visit one.

As road tax in Tamil Nadu is a life tax, it is paid only once, when a vehicle is first registered in the state. The rate depends on the vehicle’s cost: Cars pay 12% to 20%, and motorcycles and scooters pay 10% or 12%.

Since a car costing ₹4.8 lakhs is in the lowest band, its life tax is 12%, or ₹57,600. At ₹8 lakhs the 13% band applies, so the tax is ₹1,04,000. The dealer usually collects this with the on-road price of a new car.

Life tax on two-wheelers

Motorcycles and scooters pay life tax by cost, under the same Act.

Since the state can revise these rates, check the amount on Vahan before you pay.

As RTO fees come from Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, a national rule, a new car pays ₹600 to be registered in Chennai, Coimbatore or any other Tamil Nadu town. A duplicate Registration Certificate (RC) for that car costs ₹300.

If you want the RC as a smart card, ₹200 is added. Where an owner in Tamil Nadu misses the renewal date, the RTO charges a monthly late fee: ₹500 on a car, ₹300 on a motorcycle. Battery-operated vehicles are charged nothing when an RC is issued or renewed.

Worth knowing: As these are only the RTO’s fees, the HSRP, Tamil Nadu life tax and any state service charges are paid on top.

As the dealer applies to register a new private car on the Vahan portal, most buyers in Tamil Nadu never take the car to the RTO. Since life tax and the registration fee are collected with the price, the Registration Certificate (RC) follows as soon as the RTO approves the application.

Important to know: As the dealer only needs to see a valid policy, you are free to compare options and buy car insurance yourself before delivery day.

Since the RC must show the current owner, selling a car in Chennai means moving the RC into the buyer’s name. This is done on Vahan or at the RTO on the RC, such as Tambaram for a TN-11 car, and the fee for a car is ₹300.

Since the policy must also be in the buyer’s name, the buyer has 14 days to move the car insurance across.

Removing a loan (hypothecation) from the RC in Tamil Nadu

As a car loan is recorded on the RC through Form 34, the entry has to be removed after the loan is repaid. Once the last instalment is paid, get the lender’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) and Form 35, then apply on Vahan, and the RTO issues an RC without the loan.

As Tamil Nadu uses the national Parivahan systems, most RTO services start online. Vehicle work goes through the Vahan portal and licence work through the Sarathi portal, and you visit the RTO only for steps such as the driving test.

Duplicate RC and RC status check in Tamil Nadu

If an RC is lost, stolen or damaged, Form 26 is the form for a duplicate, and the fee for a car is ₹300, as the fees table above shows. To follow an application or look up an RC, use Parivahan Sewa or the mParivahan app, or check your RC status on Kiwi Insurance.

Driving licence services in Tamil Nadu

As licences are handled on Sarathi, a learner in Chennai applies there first and then books the driving test. Renewals and the International Driving Permit also go through Sarathi, using Form 2 and Form 4A from the forms section below.

Since the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 sets national amounts, a driver stopped in Chennai without valid insurance faces ₹2,000 for a first offence and ₹4,000 for any later one. The table below shows other common fines from the same Act.

A repeat is any offence after the first. As states can compound some offences at their own amounts, go by the amount on the challan for your TN vehicle. The Parivahan e-challan portal, echallan.parivahan.gov.in, and the mParivahan app both let you check and pay a challan with the vehicle or challan number.

Worth knowing: As the uninsured driving fine applies only to a car without valid cover, a current policy keeps you clear of it. Details are under car insurance in Tamil Nadu.

If you are leaving Tamil Nadu, start with the NOC from your TN RTO, since the new state will ask for it. After the car is registered there, apply for a refund of unused Tamil Nadu life tax.

A Bharat series (BH) number plate is a single registration number for use in any state, which is why it shows no TN or other state code. Moving out of Tamil Nadu with a BH car therefore needs no No Objection Certificate (NOC) and no fresh registration elsewhere. It suits people who are transferred between states, such as defence personnel posted in Chennai. The series began with G.S.R. 594(E) of 26 August 2021 and has applied since 15 September 2021.

Since BH tax is charged in 2-year blocks, a diesel car pays 2% more than the rates above for each block and an electric car 2% less. A car on a regular TN number instead pays Tamil Nadu’s one-time life tax, which is 13% for a car costing ₹8 lakhs.

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. There is also no road tax refund to apply for when a BH car moves out of Tamil Nadu. To cover sales and conversions, a second notification, G.S.R. 879(E) of 14 December 2022, explains how a BH car changes owner and how an existing number can be converted to BH.

As the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 set RTO forms for the whole country, Tamil Nadu offices use the same forms as every other state. Most are now completed online on Vahan or Sarathi, and each card links to the official PDF for use where an office still asks for a printed form.

As a used car sale needs both forms, the seller and buyer file Form 29 and Form 30 together. As the policy must follow the RC, move the insurance within 14 days of the transfer.

Worth knowing: Since each form goes to the RTO whose code is on your RC, a TN-11 car is handled at Tambaram. As some services also need address proof or a PUC certificate, look at the document list on the Parivahan Sewa website before you apply. Other forms are in the RTO forms section of the Parivahan Sewa website.

How your insurance links to the Tamil Nadu RTO

As the RTO checks insurance at registration, a new car must be insured before it gets a TN number. Since the policy must follow the owner, a buyer of a used car has 14 days to take it over. And since the policy must name the right car, inform your insurer whenever the car is re-registered under a new number, for example after a move from another state.

Worth knowing: Finish the RC transfer at the RTO and the policy transfer with the insurer within the same two weeks. It keeps the car fully covered from the day it changes hands.