Everyone can relate to the tediousness of having your vehicle registered.

The long lines, forms to fill up and the uncomfortable nooks and cranny of your nearby Land Transporation Office branch. No wonder some owners risk not registering at all.

But if you're responsible enough you make it a point to have the ride inspected, tested, and registered every year at the LTO of their choice.

This annual practice starts three years after the initial registration of a new vehicle expires.

One of the reasons some people are discouraged from going to the LTO to have their vehicles registered is the fear that the registration process might take a whole day to finish.

But unlike many decades ago when it would sometimes take forever to accomplish the registration of a vehicle, nowadays the registration process only takes half a day or even a couple of hours. And if one arrives at the LTO before 8 a.m., when it opens its gates to the public, expect to have a shorter stay at the agency.

"Having your vehicle registered is not just proof that you have paid the necessary taxes and fees. It also ensures that your vehicle is roadworthy and legally using our roads," explained Joselito "Bogs" Luarca, chief of the LTO Las Piñas District Office.

In fact, getting caught driving an unregistered vehicle carries a hefty fine of P10,000. Worse, the vehicle could be impounded, especially if it hasn't been registered for more than a month.

Delinquent

The Land Transportation Office revealed that approximately 65 percent of the country's motor vehicles are "delinquent", meaning, the owners have failed or intentionally refused to have their vehicles registered with the LTO.

Because of these unregistered vehicles, the government is said to have lost over P37 billion in revenue and could have collected around P18.4 billion from delinquent four-wheeled vehicles, P15.5 billion from motorcycles, and another P3.25 billion from trucks and buses.

With 4.1 million unregistered vehicles, the National Capital Region has the highest number of delinquent vehicles.

It is hoped that the hefty fine imposed for owners who fail to register their vehicles on time will help the LTO recover from the billions lost in revenue and discourage the use of unregistered vehicles that should not be out in the streets.

The hefty fine is a welcome solution to the problem involving unregistered vehicles.

And to be able to help attain the goal of enticing these owners to have their vehicles registered on time, Luarca believes that the LTO's district offices must consistently render fast, efficient service and allow the public to experience hassle-free transactions.

Busiest district office

Luarca proudly revealed that the LTO Las Piñas is among the busiest district offices in the country that have been registering more than 750 motor vehicles a day.

"It helps that there are many private motor vehicle inspection centers and private emission testing centers in Las Piñas. Plus, our FMC-LTO Compound, which is located along Alabang-Zapote Road, has a large parking space complete with canteens."

He likened the place to a one-stop shop where people could do all LTO-related transactions and accomplish them in just one day.

Luarca wants to initiate improvements in the LTO Las Piñas — like renovating the buildings or setting up additional structures — for the comfort of the transacting public.

However, he won't be able to fulfill his plan since the FMC-LTO Compound is privately owned which the city government facilitated for the agency's use until 2041.

"We were then located within the City Hall compound, but soon the sheer volume of vehicles (not to mention the lack of parking slots) and people transacting daily became a problem. So in 2005, the mayor decided to transfer us to our present location," Luarca said.

The LTO Las Piñas chief said that since his team wasn't able to do any physical improvements inside the compound, he instead made sure that people were served better and faster, which they were able to do through the streamlining of application and registration transactions.

'Customer delight'

"My mission now is to bring 'customer delight.' Right now, we take note of complaints and see what we can do about them. We are thankful that everything is being digitized so the processing flow is much faster," Luarca said, adding:

"You see, the success of this office rests upon reliable and secure IT infrastructure as well as sufficient number of license plates and plastic cards (which are used in producing our driver's license). It's just sad that we have no control over these things and yet we are the ones who face the anger of disgruntled clients."

Just like the service crews of restaurants and salespersons of department stores, Luarca related that they regularly conduct the training of their personnel on handling complaints and irate clients.

Luarca noted that by addressing the issues and improving areas of concern, the LTO Las Piñas will be able to enhance its service quality and bolster overall customer satisfaction. These are factors that could help transform this particular LTO into a more service-oriented agency.

He is also thankful that the Land Transportation Management System portal is now up and running. This new one-stop online shop further shortens transactions like renewal of driver's license and motor vehicle registration (the latter, a service that the portal added early this year).

"However, the process only applies to renewal transactions of vehicle owners who have a registered LTMS portal account. Their last renewal transaction should have been completed using the LTMS and have acquired a certificate of coverage or insurance of their choice. Lastly, their vehicles must have passed a roadworthiness test from a private motor vehicle inspection center," Luarca explained.

He added that with the ongoing digitalization, this development could help ease the overflowing number of clients going to the LTO Las Piñas, and in turn prevent the proliferation of fixers and corrupt personnel. "Then, we could all have happy and content clients leaving our office," Luarca concluded.