General Information - Vehicle Registration Transactions (RQ/RR, RQG, RNQ/RNR, RPQ/RPR)

Vehicle Registration Transactions (RQ/RR, RQG, RNQ/RNR, RPQ/RPR)

This section describes how to access out-of-state vehicle registration information (plate number, license type, license year, VIN, vehicle model, vehicle style, and vehicle color) by sending a query through Nlets to a state or multi-state region by License Plate/Year/Type, VIN, or Name.

Canadian vehicle registration queries are described in "Communicating with Canada".
Mexican vehicle registration queries are described in "Communicating with Mexico".

This section provides an overview and details regarding:

Vehicle Registration Query by License Plate/Year/Type, or VIN to a state (RQ) and the corresponding Vehicle Registration Response (RR)
Vehicle Registration Query by License Plate/Year/Type, or VIN to a region (RQG) and the corresponding Vehicle Registration Response (RR)
Vehicle Registration Partial Plate Query by License Plate (partial)/Year/Type to a state (RPQ) and the corresponding Vehicle Registration Partial Plate Response (RPR)
Vehicle Registration Query by Name (RNQ), and the corresponding Vehicle Registration Response (RR).

The RQG is a Vehicle Registration Query to a region. It has the same requirements as a standard RQ. When Nlets receives an RQG message, Nlets changes the message type to RQ prior to sending to the destination. States will not receive a RQG message type. Since the message type is changed to a RQ, the requesting state will receive a RR message back. The RQG can also be used for the Multi-state query.

The RPQ is a Vehicle Registration Query to a state only (no regions, broadcast, or multi-state) and is intended to allow a query of a Partial plate using wildcards. Refer to specific details of partial plate formats below.

Multi-State Query Functionality

Nlets supports the Multi-State Query functionality for the RQ message format. This functionality allows the inquiry to be automatically sent to all states that participate in the message type and returns a single merged response.

In order to send a Vehicle Registration using the Multi-State Query, the inquiry should be sent in its typical format to the destination NL. Nlets will take this query and send it to ALL states that support the RQ message key. Nlets then collects all relevant responses to this query, merges them together while suppressing the NO HIT responses, and sends them onto the querying user as a single response. These responses will also contain summary data indicating which states this query was sent to, which states responded with hits, which responded with no hits, and which states did not respond at all.

States receiving legacy text or GJXDM formats will see the summary data and state responses in a flattened text format (wrapped in XML for GJXDM), whereas states receiving responses in NIEM will receive the summary and state responses in a standardized XML structure detailed below.

An important detail to note is that if a response is received after Nlets has forwarded on the merged Multi-State response, the late response will be sent individually to the original user. This would be most likely to occur if a participating state happened to be 'down' at the time of the inquiry but came back up at a later time and responded.

Overview

To send a Vehicle Registration Query (RQ/RQG), a user must enter the License Plate, License Year, and License Type (See "Query by License Plate/Year/Type" below), or VIN, Vehicle Make (optional), and Vehicle Manufacture Year (optional) (See "Query by VIN" below).

Positive Vehicle Registration Responses (RR) may contain information including the license number, license type, license year, VIN, vehicle model, vehicle style, and vehicle color (See "Vehicle Registration Response" below).

Graphic showing how Nlets transforms Query by License Plate/Year/Type data or Query by VIN data to Vehicle Registration Response data

To send a Vehicle Registration Partial Plate Query (RPQ), a user must enter the License Plate as a partial plate using wildcards, License Year, and License Type (See "Partial Plate Query by Partial License Plate/Year/Type" below). States will respond with a list of individual matches using the RPR message format.

Other possible responses to a query include:

NOT ON FILE
FILE NOT AVAILABLE
TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE

Query Requirements

Each Registration Query (RQ/RQG) can be sent to up to five state or regional codes.
A destination code of "Z1" will result in the inquiry being directed to all states (sends a separate response for each state).
A destination code of "NL" will result in the inquiry being directed to all states (sends a single response for all states).
Each Registration Partial Plate Query (RPQ) can be sent to up to five states, but not to any region codes, broadcast codes, or multi-state query (NL)
Any indicators or flags from a state DMV file that depict a vehicle record as stolen must be suppressed from interstate transmission over Nlets.
To access information on diplomatic plates use the 2-character code "US". Note that US does not support Registration Partial Plate Query (RPQ)
To access information on GSA plates use the 2-character code "GS". Note that GS does not support Registration Partial Plate Query (RPQ)
When query by VIN with optional "Make" field the "Date" field is required.

Query Help

Utilize the states help file for additional DMV ORI information.
To obtain explanatory or supplementary information on a state's vehicle registration files, a user may send an Administrative Message to xxLICHELP (where xx = 2 character state code).
A user also may determine who is providing automated responses to registration queries and who has a HELP file by sending an Administrative Message to "NLLICHELP".
If a complete date of birth is unknown some states support inquiries on age. Consult state vehicle registration HELP file for details. The address is xxLICHELP (where xx=2 character state code).
A Help file about GSA can be obtained by sending an Administrative message to GSADMHELP.
A Help file about data returned from GSA can be obtained by sending an Administrative message to GSLICHELP.

More information on help files can be located in Help File Transactions.

Data Codes

Codes used as input and/or output in the vehicle registration query/response generally match NCIC formats and content. Please refer to Part II of your NCIC Manual for code translation and instruction.
If a state cannot conform to the NCIC codes with regard to vehicle make and vehicle model, an easily understandable notation may be substituted.

Reason Code (New)

Registration Transactions now support an optional Reason Code element. When included in the query, it will be forwarded to users that have opted in to receive Reason Codes in their Registration Transactions.
For users that have not opted to receive Reason Codes in their Registration Transactions, the Reason Code will be removed by Nlets prior to sending the transaction.
Contact the Nlets Service Center for more information about configuring your state to receive Reason Codes in their Registration Transactions.

Vehicle Registration Query Field Requirements (RQ/RQG/RPQ)

The table that follows describes requirements for Vehicle Registration Queries (RQ/RQG/RPQ). Note that RPQ does not support query by VIN/Make/Year.

XML Tag: Legacy Prefix: Field Size: Data Requirements: Translation: n2:ReasonCode RSN/ 1 N, F, V, T, S, H or I Reason Code (Optional). Must be one of the following:
N - Narcotics
F - Fraud
V - Violent crimes
T - Traffic Violations
S - Theft
H - Humanitarian
I - Immigration nc:IdentificationID LIC/ 1-10 String License number (refer below for wildcard usage for RPQ) nc:IdentificationCategoryText LIT/ 2 See NCIC Manual License type nc:Year LIY/ 10 ccyy or yy ccyy or yy, License year or NX, Non-expiring nc:IdentificationID VIN/ 1-20 Alphanumeric only Vehicle identification number nc:VehicleMakeCode VMA/ 2-4 See NCIC Manual Vehicle make nc:ItemModelYearDate VYR/ 2-4 See NCIC Manual Vehicle model year date

Vehicle Partial Plate Query (RPQ) Wildcards

To query by partial plate, use one or more of the following wildcards in the license plate number:

? = match any single character
% = match any sequence of characters
Users may search using both wildcard characters
Examples:
- A?C123 would match AAC123, ABC123, ACC123, A1C123, A2C123, A3C123, etc.
- A%C123 would match AXC123, AXXC123, AXXXC123, etc., where 'X' represents any valid license plate character
- A%C1?3 would match AXC1X3, AXX1X3, AXXX1X3, etc.

States who program for the RPQ will use these search characters to ensure a common data contract between states.

Registration Name Query/Registration Name Response (RNQ/RNR)

This section provides an overview and details regarding the RNQ/RNR (query by name and its response).

Overview

To send a Vehicle Registration Query (RNQ), a user must enter the Name, Date of Birth (optional), and Age (optional) (See "Name Query" below).

Positive Vehicle Registration Reponses (RNR) may contain information including the License Number, License Type, License Year, VIN, Vehicle Model, Vehicle Style, and Vehicle Color (See Response below).

Graphic showing how Nlets transforms Query by Name data to Vehicle Registration Response data

The other possible vehicle registration responses include:

FILE NOT AVAILABLE
NOT ON FILE
TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE

Query Requirements

Registration Query (RNQ) can not be sent to a region code.
To access information on diplomatic plates use the 2-character code "US".

Data Codes

Codes used as input and/or output in the vehicle registration query/response generally match NCIC formats and content. Please refer to Part II of your NCIC Manual for code translation and instruction.
If a state cannot conform to the NCIC codes with regard to vehicle make and vehicle model, an easily understandable notation may be substituted.

Reason Code (New)

Registration Transactions now support an optional Reason Code element. When included in the query, it will be forwarded to users that have opted in to receive Reason Codes in their Registration Transactions.
For users that have not opted to receive Reason Codes in their Registration Transactions, the Reason Code will be removed by Nlets prior to sending the transaction.
Contact the Nlets Service Center for more information about configuring your state to receive Reason Codes in their Registration Transactions.

Vehicle Registration by Name Field Requirements (RNQ)

The table below describes requirements for Registration by Name Queries.

XML Tag: Legacy Prefix: Field Size: Data Requirements: Translation: n2:ReasonCode RSN/ 1 N, F, V, T, S, H or I Reason Code (Optional). Must be one of the following:
N - Narcotics
F - Fraud
V - Violent crimes
T - Traffic Violations
S - Theft
H - Humanitarian
I - Immigration nc:PersonFullName NAM/ 1-30 Alpha Characters Person Name: This field must include at least a first and last name in the standard name format (surname, first name). Some states allow a question mark "?" in the surname if the full surname is not known. Consult state help files to determine if a state can support this capability. (E.g., NAM/PUBL?,JOHN Q.) nc:Date DOB/ 8 ccyy-mm-dd See NCIC Manual Date of Birth. This field, if used, must include the complete date of birth. nc:PersonAgeDescriptionText AGE/ 2 Numeric Age. If a complete date of birth is unknown, some states support inquiries on age. Consult state vehicle registration HELP file for details. The address is xxLICHELP where xx=2 character state code.

Vehicle Registration Name Field Requirements (RNR)

The RNR Field Requirements are identical to the RR Field Requirements.