Punjab Vehicle Verification System — check before you pay
MTMIS is Punjab's official vehicle records database. Type in a registration number and it hands back the owner, engine and chassis numbers, and whether the token tax is paid — free, in under a minute, for any car, bike, or commercial vehicle registered in the province.
One Database Behind Every Number Plate In Punjab
MTMIS stands for Motor Transport Management Information System, built by the Punjab Information Technology Board for the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department. Before it existed, a vehicle's ownership and tax history lived only in paper files at a district Excise office — confirming any of it meant a trip in person. MTMIS moved that record online, so anyone with a registration number can pull the same data the department itself holds.
That matters most at the exact moment someone is handing over cash for a used car: the plate on the vehicle can be checked against the plate in the government's own database in the time it takes to type it in. A mismatch, an owner name that doesn't match the seller, or unpaid tax that would otherwise become the buyer's problem — all of it surfaces before money changes hands, not after.
Pick A Channel
All three pull from the same MTMIS database — they differ only in speed and how much detail comes back.
MTMIS web portal
Enter the registration number and a captcha. Returns the full record — owner, father's or husband's name, city, engine and chassis numbers, registration date, and token tax status.
mtmis.excise.punjab.gov.pkSMS shortcode
Text the registration number to 8785 from any phone. A reply comes back with the core details within seconds — useful at a roadside deal with no signal for a browser.
SMS → 8785Excise helpline
Call the department's helpline if the portal is down or a plate simply won't resolve online. Staff can look up the same record directly.
0800-08786There's also a separate CNIC-based portal and the e-Pay Punjab app for paying token tax once you've confirmed a vehicle is clean — both covered further down.
What Each Field On The Ticket Means
- Owner name and parentage
- Shown with father's or husband's name attached, or a company name for a fleet vehicle. This is who the seller needs to be, or needs to be selling on behalf of — a mismatch here is the single most important thing to catch before paying.
- Registered city
- Reflects the owner's recorded address, not necessarily where the vehicle is being sold today. A Karachi owner selling a car in Lahore isn't unusual on its own.
- Engine and chassis numbers
- Physically stamped on the vehicle in a few standard locations. Match these against the metal in person — a database record only means something if it matches the actual car in front of you.
- Token tax status
- A future date such as 2027-06-30 means tax is paid through that date. A past date means dues are outstanding and, once transferred, they become the new owner's responsibility. Motorcycles and cars up to 1000cc often show "Life Time" instead of a date.
- Previous owner still listed
- If the record shows a name other than the person selling to you, the last sale was never formally completed at an Excise office. Only a biometric-verified transfer updates this field — a signed slip of paper does not.
From Plate Number To Result, In Order
Open the official MTMIS site
Go directly to the portal rather than searching — several unofficial lookalike sites rank highly and are worth avoiding.
Type the registration number as printed on the plate
Try it with and without a dash, and with or without the year segment, if the first attempt returns nothing.
Complete the captcha
A simple human-check before the search runs — no account or login required.
Read the result against the physical vehicle
Check owner name, engine number, and chassis number against the seller and the car itself, not just against what you expected to see.
Decide, or ask questions on the spot
A mismatch or unpaid token tax isn't necessarily a dead end — it's a reason to ask the seller to explain before any money moves.
Checking A Plate vs. Checking A CNIC
The main MTMIS portal answers one question: what does the database know about this registration number. A separate CNIC-based lookup answers a different one: what vehicles are registered against this identity card. They're built for different moments.
| Need | Use | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Verifying a car you're about to buy | MTMIS portal, by registration number | Full record for that one vehicle |
| Confirming what's registered in your own name | CNIC-based portal | List of every vehicle tied to that CNIC |
| No internet at the point of sale | SMS to 8785 | Core details by text reply |
| Paying token tax after verifying | e-Pay Punjab app | Payment against the confirmed record |
The CNIC portal exists precisely because the registration-number search can't be run in reverse for privacy reasons — you can't search the database by someone else's identity to see what they own. If you need that view for your own CNIC, it's a separate, dedicated tool rather than a field on the main search page.
Recent change: the Excise Department has begun rolling out biometric verification for vehicle registration and transfer through the PAK IDENTITY app, alongside a re-registration process for vehicles originally registered outside Punjab. Both add a fingerprint-matched identity check to transactions that previously relied on paperwork alone — verification searches themselves are unaffected. Confirm current rollout status on the department's own site before relying on it for a transaction.
What A Skipped Check Actually Costs
Stolen vehicle
A car with clean paperwork can still be stolen if the paperwork itself is forged — the database record is harder to fake than a physical file.
Inherited tax dues
Unpaid token tax doesn't disappear at sale — it follows the vehicle to its next owner unless it's settled first.
Incomplete transfer
A car sold on a plain receipt with the old owner still on record can leave you unable to prove ownership later.
Fake smart card
A convincing-looking card means nothing if the underlying MTMIS record doesn't match it — always check the database, not just the document.
Common Snags
Registration number returns nothing
Try it with a dash, without one, and with the year segment included — formatting is inconsistent across older and newer plates. If none work, the vehicle may be registered in another province, which runs its own separate system.
Result shows a previous owner
The last sale was likely completed off the books, on a receipt rather than through a formal Excise transfer. Only a biometric-verified transfer at the department updates this field.
A newly bought vehicle isn't showing up yet
Fresh registrations can take a few days to appear. Check again after a week before assuming something is wrong.
Details in your own record are wrong
The public portal can't edit records. A visit to your district Excise office with original documents is the only way to correct it.
Portal is slow or unreachable
Traffic spikes near tax deadlines. Fall back to SMS 8785, or try again outside peak hours.
Frequently Asked
Is checking a vehicle on MTMIS free?
Can I search by CNIC instead of a plate number?
Does it cover motorcycles too?
What does "Life Time" mean under token tax?
The owner's city is outside Punjab — is that a problem?
Can someone else check a vehicle on my behalf?
What if the vehicle isn't registered in Punjab at all?
Is a paid third-party "verification service" ever necessary?
Before you rely on a result: only trust vehicle data from the official MTMIS portal, the 8785 shortcode, or the Excise Department's own helpline. Third-party sites can mirror or delay the same data, and some carry outdated or altered figures. For anything that changes a record — a transfer, a correction, a smart card reissue — that has to happen through the Excise Department itself; no website can complete it on your behalf.
Have a plate number ready?
Run it through MTMIS before any money changes hands — it costs nothing and takes less time than the drive to see the car.
Verify a vehicle now