This is a detailed guide on how to check car plate number owner in Nigeria.
A car’s plate number can be said to be a unique identification number given to a car. This identification number is usually displayed at the back and front of the car so it can easily be identified by relevant authorities.
In Nigeria, the agency most concerned with these plate numbers is the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) who also ensures the rules and regulations that guide road usage in Nigeria are enforced.
To make their job easier, they have allocated these plate numbers to every vehicle registered with them and other relevant agencies.
See How To Register A Car In Nigeria.
Car Plate Number In Nigeria
Vehicle registration plates in Nigeria are very unique and easy to recognize. They give almost every detail about their origins and can not be mistaken for the registration plates of other countries.
Nigeria and Liberia are the only African countries that use the North American standard 6 × 12 inches (approximately 152 × 300 millimeters) for license plates.
The license plate being used currently was introduced in 1992 and remodeled in 2011, with a lot of major changes made especially the Nigerian map that features in the background.
License plates in Nigeria are white; in the remodeled license plates, the Nigerian flag is featured at the top left corner and the Nigerian coat of arms takes the same position in the old number plates.
The state of origin is displayed at the top part of the license plate while ‘The Federal Republic of Nigeria’ takes its place at the bottom.
Plate numbers are unique to every license plate and these plate numbers consist of three letters succeeded by three numbers and another two letters.
This means they, for example, follow the format XYZ 321 BA where ‘XYZ’ represents the local government area where the vehicle was registered.
Note that the plate numbers of private vehicles are written in blue while those of commercial vehicles are written in red.
Why You Might Need To Check A Car Plate Number Owner
There are different legal and justified reasons why you might need to check a car plate number owner.
You might have witnessed a hit-and-run situation and managed to get the plate number of the runaway driver, or you might have been robbed and you got the plate number of the car used by the culprits.
You might also want to be a patriotic citizen by reporting a reckless driver who is not taking his life and that of other road users into consideration.
It is also possible you want to buy a used car but verify its owner to avoid being scammed.
Another important reason for checking for the owner of a car’s plate number is if the plate number is actually yours but you want to be sure your car is registered under the Federal Road Safety Commission.
These reasons and more are valid reasons to find out the owner of a car plate number in Nigeria.
Hence, in this article, I will be showing you how to check car plate number owner in Nigeria.
How To Check Car Plate Number Owner In Nigeria
For the sake of this guide, we will be grouping the reasons for checking a car plate number owner in Nigeria into 2 groups:
- Non-legal issues
- legal issues
Non-legal issues are situations where law enforcement agencies do not need to be involved. A good example is verifying your own plate number.
On the other hand, checking a car plate number’s owner for legal issues are situations where law enforcement agencies are much needed alongside court orders.
Examples of this situation include getting the plate number owner of a car used for illegal activities or reporting a reckless driver to law enforcement agencies like the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
1. Checking a car plate number owner for Non-legal issues
Below are the ways to verify a car plate number owner information for non legal reasons in Nigeria.
Checking Plate Numbers On The FRSC’s Website
The Federal Road Safety Commission has a website where you can check and verify car plate numbers on it’s database.
This website is easy to use, does not take too much time to load, and can be done on any phone with an internet connection.
With this method, you can verify or check a car plate number owner information online.
Follow these steps to check a car’s plate number on the FRSC’s National Vehicle Identification Service (NVIS) platform.
- Open your web browser and type the following link: https://nvis.frsc.gov.ng/VehicleManagement/VerifyPlateNo
- The link will take you directly to the FRSC’s car plate number checking portal. On this page, you will be required to input the plate number you want to check. Do this by typing all the characters without spacing. For example, if you want to check the plate number XYZ 321 BA, you instead input XYZ321BA.
- Select ‘submit’.
- Information on the vehicle will be displayed and if the plate number you input is invalid, it will bring a ‘null’ result.
Checking Plate Numbers Using The FRSC’s Mobile App
The FRSC has developed an app to make sure you get information from the comfort of your home.
Though it is currently only available on Android OS, it is convenient to use and does not take a lot of storage space. To use the FRSC mobile app to check car plate number,
- Go to Google Playstore on your Android OS device and search for FRSC app.
- Install the app.
- Enter the plate number without putting space between the characters.
- Click on ‘verify’.
- Information about the plate number will then be displayed and it would return a ‘null’ result if it is not valid.
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Checking Plate Numbers Using Text Message
This method is very convenient and can be done with any phone as there is no need for an internet connection. All you have to do is follow these instructions:
- Open your phone’s messaging.
- Type’ VerifyPlateNo’ space your plate number (without spaces between the characters). For example, VerifyPlateNo XYZ321BA
- Send the text message to 33324.
- You will be sent a text message shortly. The text message would contain information on the plate number or would bring a ‘null’ result if it is invalid.
How To Check Plate Number In Lagos
Lagos state is the state in Nigeria with the most vehicular traffic. Also, so many cars are registered in Lagos state as it is relatively easy to register your car in Lagos.
To ease the workload on the FRSC, the Lagos State Government introduced the Lagos Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (LSMVAA).
Unlike the FRSC’s website, mobile app and text messaging which only shows the name and colour of the car, LSMVAA goes further to give you additional information like the chassis number, vehicle status and the issue date of the plate number.
Not that this is only applicable to vehicles registered in Lagos state.
- Open your web browser.
- Go to www.lsmvaapvs.org
- Input the plate number you intend to check without spaces between the characters (e.g XYZ321BA)
- Click on ‘search’
- Information about the plate number will be displayed if it is valid.
2. Checking a car plate number owner for legal issues
If you have a genuine and legal reason to involve law enforcement agents in your search, you have to go through some processes.
The end result of these processes yields more specific results as you could even get to know the home address of the plate number’s owner.
These processes could prove to be stressful but the end result would most times give a high level of satisfaction.
To check for a car number plate owner information in Nigeria, follow the procedure below.
1. Report to the nearest police station: Find the police station nearest to you and provide the necessary details about the car.
Give a reasonable explanation on why you need to check for the owner of the plate number.
Ask for a document backed by court order: While at the police station, request for a document that would give you the right to search for the owner of the plate number.
Visit the nearest FRSC office: After you acquire documents from the police, your next step should be to visit an FRSC office.
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There, you will present the documents and you will be asked further questions. If the FRSC officials are convinced enough, they will download the information you need from the government’s database.
This information will include the vehicle type, name of owner, and ID card number. You would also be given the address of the plate number’s owner which you should present to the police.
You could also consider hiring a private investigator’s services but doing so could cost you a lot of money.
If you choose to do so, hire a trusted private investigator so you will not become the victim of fake private investigators or the ones that would not handle the situation professionally.
That’s all on how to check car plate number owner in Nigeria.
I hope this guide helps?