Lost certificate of conformity: how to get a duplicate

It is not a photocopy

A duplicate certificate of conformity is not a reproduction of an existing sheet of paper. It is a document re-issued by the manufacturer from its type-approval data — the very same data the original was produced from. It describes the vehicle with the same precision and carries exactly the same value.

That answers a common worry: no, a duplicate is not a second-class document. What matters to the registration authority is that it comes from the manufacturer or its authorised representative.

The ten-year limit

This is the only serious obstacle, and it surprises almost everyone. Article 36 of Regulation (EU) 2018/858 obliges the manufacturer to issue a duplicate to the vehicle owner — but only for ten years after the date of manufacture. Beyond that, there is no obligation, and the manufacturer no longer has to keep the records.

In practice, many manufacturers still answer after ten years. But the answer is no longer guaranteed and the lead time becomes unpredictable: a right turns into a favour. That is exactly why we ask the question before preparing a quote. If the answer is negative, you have paid nothing.

Which date counts, exactly

Many owners look at the date of first registration shown on their registration certificate. That is the wrong date. The countdown starts from the date of manufacture.

The difference is not trivial. A vehicle that left the factory in November and was first registered the following March is several months older than its registration document suggests. On a vehicle close to the limit, those few months make the difference between an answer and silence.

How it works in practice

One thing, and one thing only, is needed to start: the chassis number, also called the VIN. Seventeen characters, never containing the letters I, O or Q. You will find it in field E of an EU registration certificate, at the bottom of the windscreen on the driver's side, or on the plate in the door pillar.

With that, we put the request to the manufacturer. Depending on the make, the answer arrives in a few working days or after several weeks: the route depends on the manufacturer, not on the intermediary.

The full price list is on the pricing page, the detailed procedure in our guide to a lost CoC and on the duplicate certificate page.

Why nobody can "make" one

A certificate of conformity is not a form to fill in. It is the manufacturer's declaration about the approved characteristics of one specific vehicle. A document produced anywhere else is a forgery, with the criminal consequences that go with it — for whoever produces it and for whoever uses it.

Concretely, this means that a website promising an "instant" certificate for a make known to be slow is promising something it cannot legally deliver. An unusually low price and an unusually short lead time are the two signals to watch for.