I bought a new car on April 29. The dealer via the Philippines’ transportation bureau, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), gave me the registration papers twenty-seven (27) days later on May 26. The licence plates were finally released on June 17, twenty-two (22) days after the registration papers and forty-nine (49) days total from the purchase date.
The LTO bragged in September 2025 that new-car buyers could receive their registration papers & licence plates on the same day they purchase their automobiles.
The LTO, about the same time, announced that traffic enforcers shall cite and ticket motorists who drive vehicles without proof of registration and license plates.
A month later, the LTO said it was impractical to enforce the “no-plate, no-travel” policy, citing issues in the processing of registrations and deliveries of licence plates.
More than six (6) months later, the issues apparently remain unresolved. But never mind, as per the dealer’s sales representative, I could drive the car as long as I had the proof of registration.
To the dealer and to the LTO, the processing of registration of new automobiles and the releasing of licence plates is a problem, yes, but it’s not an urgent one. As buyers could drive their new cars even without licence plates, there is no significant inconvenience for the dealer’s customers.
A problem is urgent when one perceives external pressure to solve it. When I complained to the dealer’s sales representative that the registration was taking so long, the sales rep repeatedly followed up the staff in charge of coordinating with the LTO.
A problem becomes important when one believes that solving it will facilitate performance in meeting strategic objectives. I didn’t think the dealer felt the problem of late registrations and delayed licence plates was important. Given that the dealer had already sold me a new car and I paid cash for it, there would be little, if any, value in assisting me to get the new car’s registration & licence plates faster.
For the LTO, however, the delays in registrations & licence plate releasing could be considered not only an urgent problem but an important one.
It is part & parcel of the LTO’s mandate to ensure the registration of land transportation vehicles in the Philippines. Registration provides assurance that vehicles are legally obtained and operated & maintained in compliance to standards of public safety & environmental protection.
When there are delays in the registrations of vehicles, whether old or new, in which there would be motorists driving vehicles lacking proper registrations & licence plates, the LTO would be remiss in its mandate.
The problem of delayed registrations & licence plates, maybe not important to automobile dealers, would be important and urgent for the LTO leadership. It’s a problem that would need to be addressed and solved for the sake of the LTO meeting its strategic objectives.
Absent from this argument is the customer, who in this case is me. How important to the dealer and the LTO is my satisfaction for my buying the new car?
From this frame of reference towards the dealer and the LTO’s objectives, it seems my satisfaction wasn’t that important. Only if I did complain, maybe I’ll catch either one’s attention. But as long as I didn’t, I wouldn’t be posing a problem to anyone.
A problem becomes one either out of urgency or importance. Customer service becomes a problem depending on how much attention unsatisfied customers clamour for it or if leaders see it important enough to influence performance.
Ellery's Essays 