With Government of India initiatives like VAHAN, the national register e-service, all vehicle details can be accessed digitally with just the RC number. It shortens the decisioning time taken by banks and insurance providers to process applications.
What is VAHAN?
VAHAN is a nationwide vehicle registry launched in 2011 by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It acts as a centralized repository of all crucial data related to all kinds of vehicles.
VAHAN helps in the search and extraction of vehicle information across the length and breadth of the country from the information available about registered vehicles.
The primary objective of VAHAN is to collect and collate complete details related to motor vehicle registration certificates and driving licenses from Regional Transport Offices and District Transport Offices across India.
Need for VAHAN Registration
Prior to the launch of VAHAN in 2011, the RC verification process was manual in nature. It was impossible for banks and insurance companies to track vehicle owner’s details and source relevant information based on the vehicle’s RC number instantly.
With the digitization of information related to the vehicle’s registration, it has become easy for banks and insurance companies to track the status of vehicles, verify vehicle registration details and ownership details at the click of a button!
At Perfios we have integrated VAHAN’s centralised registry with our APIs, providing nationwide coverage, i.e. covering every vehicle on Indian roads enrolled in the VAHAN registry.
In this blog, we will discuss the benefits of integrating Perfios RC verification API in detail. Let’s begin!
RC Verification API for BFSI
With the advent of digitization, it is extremely easy and straightforward to access information online. With VAHAN, the digitized data capture of vehicle-related information has eased a lot of things. Vehicles belonging to the same group (i.e, car, bike, bus, etc.) may share the same features, make, and model, however, the only thing that distinguishes them is their RC numbers.
In VAHAN, data related to a vehicle is stored based on the registration number. With information available from RC number, the insurance companies can determine the authenticity of the claim and banks can verify if the details pertaining to the owner of the vehicle etc. are authentic/ accurate.
Instantly Verify Vehicle RC with Perfios TotalKYC Solution
Our APIs help in the authentication of vehicles and fetch details against a given Vehicle Registration Number. The APIs are dynamic and can be integrated with SaaS or OnPremise applications as per the client’s discretion and requirement, displaying the product’s versatility.
It does away with the tedious process of following the detailed sequence of steps for every subsequent request individually as multiple requests can be sent only once using batch processes.
Here are a few situations where registration numbers can be valuable and let us look at the solutions Perfios provides to leverage the registration number to gain exceptional insights about the car.
Use cases for registration certificate verification
Insurance companies
In India, there has been a substantial increase in awareness of the significance of car insurance. However, this does not diminish the fact that fraudulent, misleading information is circulated and documents are expertly forged to provide inaccurate data about make and model. Our ingenious APIs provide accurate information replete with all the details of the vehicle. The actuaries use this data to assess the overall risk of a vehicle and determine the premiums accordingly.
Here are some APIs that help with deciding whether to offer insurance and also help in calculating the insurance premium.
Age of the vehicle
The APIs provide the month and year of vehicle manufacture, which helps determine the age of the vehicle. The more the age of vehicle, the more the insurance premium as older cars accumulated depreciation over the years and are subject to wear and tear.
Location of the vehicle
APIs provide vehicle registration information and the owner’s permanent and present address. Based on this information, you can determine the likelihood of vandalism, theft, forgery, and accident. Cities tend to cost more than country dwellers due to their extreme density and propensity to drive. Places notorious for theft, and crime will also attract a higher premium; however, the premium can be lowered either by using anti-theft devices on the car or by parking it in a garage.
Owner of the vehicle
Before granting any policy and determining the premium rates, it is essential to validate and authenticate the rightful owner of the car, which can be seen through our APIs.
Chassis number
Every character of the alpha-numeric code in the chassis number denotes something vital such as manufacturing date, model, make, etc. It is to identify the vehicle, since it is unique and irreplaceable, and track its exact make and model as part of tracking. Insurers use the vehicle’s history and information to craft insurance policies and determine its insurance premiums.
Expiry Date of RC Insurance
Clients can readily access the expiration date of their RC insurance when it comes to renewing it, as it is illegal to drive a car without third-party coverage. Hence, insurance companies can inform the client that his policy is about to expire.
The insurance industry is the leader when it comes to utilizing these APIs as they provide a full picture of the car to devise the right policy and determine the right premium.
Banks
At some point, leveraging the bank’s lending and other services entails sharing the details of your other assets, including your car. But how can the bank decide whether the information is genuine or not? Here is where our RC verification APIs come into the picture. Banks can extract all vehicle details and determine if the claims made by their clients are genuine.
Financial institutions use vehicle RC for KYC verification of identity and address. Through RC verification APIs, banks and financial institutions can verify and authenticate the details provided with details extracted from publicly accessible sources, such as VAHAN.
Investigating Authorities, Tax Authorities
With our incisive APIs revealing the chassis number, the engine number, the date of manufacture, the date of registration, the model of the car, etc., the authorities can easily infer the price of the commercial vehicle and nip such activities in the bud.
By monitoring forbidden lists like stolen, impounded vehicles, or blacklisted vehicles, the APIs alert the authorities to take corrective action to imprison those guilty of the crime and return the vehicle to its rightful owner.
This seamless access to vital information about the car has been made possible through the VAHAN registry.
Conclusion
Motor Vehicle Sales in India have grown at an annual average rate of 9.3% since May 2002. The data reached an all-time high recently in April 2021, when sales grew by 7116.5%. Sales rose 11.7% in August from the previous month.
In the aftermath of the lockdown, the number of motor vehicles on Indian roads is on the rise. Furthermore, as of Oct 2021, 29,25,07,068 vehicles’ registration data are ingested into VAHAN and is growing exponentially.
The RC verification tool uses VAHAN and other state sources to retrieve vehicle information in a fraction of the time required for manual verification of the pertinent data, which typically involves a mammoth amount of paperwork and legwork, not to mention the astronomical cost of manual labour required.
