Online ownership transfer when buying a used car: How I got it done!

For straightforward ownership transfers (same RTO) online may be a better option.

BHPian DigitalOne recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After a long ordeal, I got the leased car transferred to my name. From the time the lease got over, it is exactly a year. Detailed timeline and issues I faced:

Nov 2021: Lease got over.

Mid-Jan 2022: Applied for transfer online on the Vahan portal. Paid fees online. The posts above are related to that.

Then no response or status update in the portal for a couple of months.

Mid-March: First visit to KR Puram RTO. They asked me to submit all physical documents again. I did so. No new fees were paid.

For a couple of months again nothing happens.

May 1st week: Second visit to KR Puram RTO. They say now that they will only cancel the hypothecation, but the ownership transfer has to be resubmitted in E-City. They claim that they had sent an intimation of this via normal post. It still rankles me that why they did not tell me this when they could see my address that it has to be submitted to E-City RTO.

Anyway, the hypothecation is cancelled and the original RC card is sent back via registered post in around 10 days.

June 1st week: First visit to E-City RTO. My pollution check certificate has lapsed, and I didn't notice it. This is purely my mistake.

Got a pollution check done.

July 2nd week: Second visit to E-City RTO. Submitted all documents again. Paid the transfer fees. The processing time given is 2 months (mid-Sept).

Sept 1st week: The status in the portal shows as Verified, but yet to be Approved. The status remains the same for another couple of months.

Like an idiot, without checking, I make a couple of visits to RTO on non-working days (second Saturday and Kanakadasa Jayanthi)

Mid Nov: Status remains same. Make a visit to E-City RTO, and the gentleman who is supposed to approve is on election preparation duty. Thankfully the staff there provided his personal phone number.

Mid-Nov --> Dec 1st week: I keep reminding him on Whatsapp and finally, he approves it, and I got the new RC card on the portal.

Lessons learnt:

1. Online may or may not work. In both RTOs, I found the number of computers itself as very low, compared to the number of staff. Only 1-2 people are handling the online requests.
2. I am not sure if the online process can handle this kind of workflow (Hypothecation cancellation in one RTO, and transfer in another), or if the staff are not trained for it. For straightforward ownership transfers (same RTO) online may be a better option.
3. RTO Staff is friendly, but not proactive. Everything works on personal interaction and not by process. I can speak Kannada, but English is also fine, as long as you are friendly and don't show attitude.
4. Check for RTO non-working days before starting

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