How long can a Beijing license plate be left unused?
2 Answers
It can be left unused for a maximum of 6 months. Applicants must complete all procedures, including payment of vehicle purchase tax, issuance of second-hand vehicle sales invoices, and vehicle registration, with the national tax, industrial and commercial, and vehicle management departments within 6 months from the date of obtaining the indicator. Failure to complete these procedures within the specified time will be regarded as automatic abandonment of the indicator. Related information: Conditions for retaining a transferred license plate: application must be made within six months after completing the transfer registration or cancellation registration, the original vehicle owner must have owned the original vehicle for more than three years, and all road traffic violations and accident settlements involving the original vehicle must be completed. License plate: The first character of a license plate is a Chinese character representing the abbreviation of the (province, municipality directly under the central government, or autonomous region), and the second character is an English letter representing the prefecture-level administrative region where the vehicle is registered, which is the letter code for the (prefecture-level city, region, autonomous prefecture, or league).
As someone who often helps friends with license plate matters, I must say that Beijing license plates cannot be left idle for too long, and the core rules are very clear. After you win a passenger car quota in the lottery, you must purchase a vehicle and complete the registration procedures within one year, otherwise the quota will be directly invalidated, and you can only participate in the lottery again in the future. In case the vehicle is scrapped or transferred, the license plate can be retained for personal use or for use by immediate family members, but the retention period is usually also one year, and you need to purchase a new vehicle and complete the registration within the new deadline. If left idle beyond these time limits, the license plate will be lost, effectively wasting the precious quota. Beijing's license plate restriction policy is very strict, with the aim of urging car owners to use their vehicles promptly to reduce congestion—don't think about holding onto a license plate without using it. In reality, the cost of delay is very high, so it's advisable to regularly check the status of your license plate and not neglect it.
