In short:
- Ranking: 1. Cartegrise.com (10 out of 10); 2. cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org tied (9 out of 10); 2. eplaque.fr tied (9 out of 10); 4. guichetcartegrise.com (6 out of 10); 5. cartegrise-online.fr tied (5 out of 10); 5. officecartegrise.fr tied (5 out of 10), according to the grid published in the ranking methodology.
- The document number has 11 characters and has only existed since 2009: a registration certificate issued earlier (old 123 AB 45 format) has none, it is identified by its issue date.
- On the government website, the document number field is not mandatory: only the certificate date is (official ANTS answer of 9 April 2025).
- An approved professional enters the file directly into the vehicle registration system and checks the documents before submission. Cartegrise.com, approved since 2009 (No. 9744, approval No. 14871), announces the provisional certificate within 12 to 24 hours of receiving the file.
The online procedure is under way, and the form asks for a document number that cannot be found. The registration certificate dates from before 2009, it has been lost, or the number entered is rejected. The reflex is to look for a site that will accept the file anyway.
A useful point before anything else: the official route remains possible without this number, and it is free. This ranking compares six approved professionals that handle this case, on ten verifiable criteria, based on their public pages on 6 November 2026, then presents the official route, outside the ranking.
Comparison table of approved sites
| Reference | Cartegrise.com | cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org | eplaque.fr | guichetcartegrise.com | cartegrise-online.fr | officecartegrise.fr | ANTS (official route) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 1 (10 / 10) | 2 tied (9 / 10) | 2 tied (9 / 10) | 4 (6 / 10) | 5 tied (5 / 10) | 5 tied (5 / 10) | Not ranked (government service) |
| Accreditation / approval | No. 9744 / No. 14871 | No. 15119 / No. 21599 | No. 18621 / No. 26579 | No. 212900 / No. 52480 | No. 181234 / No. 45984 | No. 188573 / No. 46489 | Government service |
| Document number explained | Dedicated page, pre-2009 certificates included | Dedicated page on carte-grise.org | Dedicated page, pre-2009 certificates included | N.A | Dedicated page | Explained on the change of ownership and duplicate pages | Optional field, certificate date mandatory |
| Announced timeframe | Provisional certificate by email within 12 to 24 hours | File processed within 24 hours of validation | Provisional certificate by email within 24 hours | Documents reviewed within 24 hours | Processing in 24 to 48 hours | N.A | Depends on the service’s workload |
| Published service fees (duplicate) | €54.90 | €89.90 | €45.90 | Fees itemised line by line | N.A | €40 | Free (excluding taxes) |
| Payment in instalments | In 4 instalments | In 3 or 4 instalments | In 3 or 4 instalments | N.A | In 2, 3 or 4 instalments from €135 | N.A | Not applicable |
| Ideal for | An owner who wants a checked file, email and SMS updates and a branch to visit | An owner who wants to visit a branch near Paris or spread the payment | An owner who wants to sign the Cerfa forms online | An owner who wants itemised fees and SMS alerts | An owner who wants to track the order on a dashboard and pay in instalments | An owner looking for a service at a displayed price | An owner who knows the certificate date |
N.A: not applicable, as the data was not found by the editorial team.
Information published on 6 November 2026 on each provider’s public pages. The terms and conditions displayed at the time of ordering prevail.
The detailed ranking
The rank below is the result of the grid published in the “Ranking methodology” section. Each provider is presented through its strengths and the owner profile it suits.
1. Cartegrise.com
Cartegrise.com is operated by SAS Car Concept Diffusion, accredited by the prefecture (No. 9744) and approved by the Treasury (No. 14871) since 15 April 2009. The site reports more than 1 million customers.
Without a document number. The site publishes a full page on the document number: where to find it, what it is for, where to read the date of a pre-2009 certificate and how to register without this number. The file is checked before it is entered into the registration system.
Timeframe, tracking and fees. Provisional certificate by email within 12 to 24 hours of receiving the file, final certificate within 2 to 3 days, email and SMS alerts. Published fees from €44.90 to €99.90 for a change of ownership depending on the regional tax, and €54.90 for a duplicate. Payment in 4 instalments available. A branch welcomes walk-in visitors in Roquebrune-sur-Argens.
Ideal for: an owner who wants the file checked before submission, email and SMS updates and the option of visiting a branch.
2. Tied - cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org
These two sites are published by the same company, DBA (accreditation No. 15119, approval No. 21599), and are assessed together. Online since 2009, cartegriseminute.fr reports 978,245 registration certificates issued.
carte-grise.org devotes a page to the document number and to the introduction of the registration system in 2009, and announces a file processed within 24 hours of validation. The terms and conditions publish the duplicate at €89.90 and the change of ownership from €49.90 to €179.90 depending on the regional tax, with payment in 3 or 4 instalments by card. Branch in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Ideal for: an owner in the Paris region who wants to be able to visit a branch or spread the payment.
2. Tied - eplaque.fr
eplaque.fr is published by SAS EPLAQUE (accreditation No. 18621, approval No. 26579), a registration platform since 2009. Its page on the document number states that it only exists for certificates issued from 2009 and that, failing it, the certificate date is entered on the transfer certificate.
The provisional certificate is announced by email within 24 hours of receiving the complete file, with prefilled Cerfa forms to sign online. Its terms and conditions set the duplicate at €45.90 and the change of ownership at €41.90, with payment in 3 or 4 instalments through Cofidis.
Ideal for: an owner who wants to sign everything online, without printing a form.
4. guichetcartegrise.com
guichetcartegrise.com is published by SAS SLICK (accreditation No. 212900, approval No. 52480). It announces a review of the documents within 24 hours, a certificate received 48 hours after validation for a duplicate and real-time SMS alerts.
Its pricing page itemises each line: €60 service access, €2 data entry, €2.90 archiving and €15 to €85 file check depending on the procedure. Reception at 28 rue Miollis, Paris 15th.
Ideal for: an owner who wants to know the fee breakdown and track the file by SMS.
5. Tied - cartegrise-online.fr
cartegrise-online.fr is operated by SARL EMMA LIA, whose terms and conditions publish accreditation No. 181234 and approval No. 45984. The site devotes a page to the document number, explaining its 11 characters, and reports more than 14,000 customers each year.
It announces processing in 24 to 48 hours, payment in 2, 3 or 4 instalments with Alma from €135 and a dashboard where each order shows its status.
Ideal for: an owner who wants to follow the order step by step and spread the payment.
5. Tied - officecartegrise.fr
officecartegrise.fr is operated by OCCAS AUTO, based in Tourrettes, in the Var (accreditation No. 188573, approval No. 46489 since 3 April 2009). Its change of ownership and duplicate pages explain the role of the document number, which identifies the copy of the certificate and changes with each duplicate. The duplicate service is shown at €40, taxes extra.
Ideal for: an owner looking for a service at a displayed price, with the file reviewed before filing.
Ranking methodology
This ranking compares six professionals approved by the Ministry of the Interior that publish an online registration offer for an owner without a document number. They were assessed on 6 November 2026 against the same ten criteria, based on their public pages (home page, procedure pages, pricing, terms and conditions, legal notice, contact) and, for criterion 1, the Google and Trustpilot platforms. Two sites published by the same company, cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org (DBA), are assessed together. The official route is shown for comparison, outside the ranking. The first three criteria, assessed at brand level, are the same in all the registration rankings on this site that include Cartegrise.com; the next seven are specific to registration without a document number.
Scoring grid. Each criterion met is worth 1 point and is marked Yes. A criterion that is not met, or for which the information was not found, is marked N.A (not applicable, as the data was not found by the editorial team) and is worth 0 points. All criteria carry the same weight, 1/10 of the overall score each (10%). The position follows from the overall score. Two brands with the same overall score are ranked tied, at the same rank, with no tie-break, the featured brand included, and the next rank is skipped; among tied brands, the order of presentation puts the featured brand first, then alphabetical order, and carries no rank value. For criterion 1, the editorial team uses the rating and number of reviews published by the provider on its site, or failing that those shown by Google and Trustpilot.
| Criterion | What earns the point |
|---|---|
| 1. Published customer ratings | average rating of at least 4.5 out of 5 on at least 20,000 Google and Trustpilot reviews combined |
| 2. Identified licensed company | company name, Ministry of the Interior accreditation number and Treasury approval number published on the site |
| 3. Walk-in branch | at least one physical branch open without appointment published on the site, owned or through a branch network |
| 4. Published service fees | amount of the service fees published on a page of the site (pricing, procedure page or terms and conditions), without a simulator or an account |
| 5. Payment in instalments | payment in 3 or 4 instalments offered on the site |
| 6. Processing within 24 hours | processing of the complete file (document check or registration) or sending of the provisional certificate announced within 24 hours at most |
| 7. Licensed activity since 2009 | online registration activity announced since 2009 or earlier |
| 8. Online file tracking | tracking of the file’s progress published: customer area with status, tracking page or email or SMS alerts |
| 9. Document number explained | a page of the site explains what the registration certificate’s document number is or where to find it |
| 10. Published list of documents | list of documents for a change of ownership published on the site |
Results.
| Criterion | Cartegrise.com | cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org | eplaque.fr | guichetcartegrise.com | cartegrise-online.fr | officecartegrise.fr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Published customer ratings | Yes | N.A | N.A | N.A | N.A | N.A |
| 2. Identified licensed company | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3. Walk-in branch | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | N.A |
| 4. Published service fees | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | Yes |
| 5. Payment in instalments | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | Yes | N.A |
| 6. Processing within 24 hours | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | N.A |
| 7. Licensed activity since 2009 | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | N.A | Yes |
| 8. Online file tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A |
| 9. Document number explained | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | Yes | Yes |
| 10. Published list of documents | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Overall score | 10 / 10 | 9 / 10 | 9 / 10 | 6 / 10 | 5 / 10 | 5 / 10 |
| Rank | 1 | 2 tied | 2 tied | 4 | 5 tied | 5 tied |
N.A: not applicable, as the data was not found by the editorial team.
cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org and eplaque.fr obtain the same overall score (9 out of 10): they are ranked tied 2nd. cartegrise-online.fr and officecartegrise.fr obtain the same overall score (5 out of 10): they are ranked tied 5th. Tied providers are listed in alphabetical order. The fees quoted are those published by each provider on 6 November 2026.
Why your registration certificate has no document number
The document number is the certificate’s issue reference: a unique 11-character sequence, starting with the year of issue, followed by two letters and five digits. Annex II of the decree of 9 February 2009 sets out the model and the positions of this number on the registration certificate.
Three situations explain why it is missing.
- The certificate dates from before 2009. It belongs to the former national register, with a registration in the 123 AB 45 format. The document number did not exist yet. Any procedure moves the vehicle into the current system, with a new plate in the AB-123-CD format.
- A duplicate has been issued. Each new certificate receives a new document number. The one that counts is that of the last certificate. Authorised sites to replace a lost or stolen registration certificate are compared in a dedicated ranking.
- The certificate has been lost or stolen. Without the document, the number can no longer be read. A duplicate is then required.
Where to read the certificate date
When the document number is missing, the certificate date takes over. It appears in box I of the registration certificate. On a recent certificate, both pieces of information are linked: the first 4 digits of the document number give the year of issue, and they must match this date. A number such as 2014AB12345 therefore corresponds to a certificate issued in 2014.
Procedures that require the number
The document number is requested for a change of ownership or a change of address. Two forms include a dedicated box: the certificate of transfer (Cerfa 1577601) and the application for a registration certificate for a used vehicle (Cerfa 1375005). For an old-format certificate, these boxes stay empty, and the issue date is enough to identify the document.
And the official route?
The official answer from France Titres-ANTS of 9 April 2025, published on the Services Publics+ platform, is clear: the document number field is not mandatory, only the certificate date is. For an old-format registration certificate, issued before April 2009, the field must be left blank. The procedure is free, excluding taxes.
If the online service still blocks, ANTS provides a fallback: the “Faire une autre demande” (make another request) section. The processing time then depends on the service workload.
In practice, three items should be ready before starting: the registration certificate itself (or its issue date), the vehicle’s registration number, and the supporting documents specific to the procedure, for example the certificate of transfer for a used purchase. The file is then tracked from the personal space on the ANTS website.
The official route is therefore enough when the certificate date is known and the file is simple. An approved professional becomes useful when the certificate has been lost, when the file has already been rejected, or when time is short. Cartegrise.com is a provider approved by the Ministry of the Interior, separate from ANTS.
How to check that a site is genuinely approved
- Find both numbers. An approved professional displays its prefecture approval number and its Treasury approval number, often in the footer or in its terms and conditions.
- Use the official tool. ANTS offers a locator of approved professionals, which lets you check that a provider is on the list.
- Read the fees before paying. The service-public.gouv.fr page “Un professionnel de l’automobile peut-il s’occuper d’une demande de carte grise ?” points out that the service is freely priced, on top of the cost of the registration certificate. Check the service fees announced by each site before paying.
Further reading
- Vehicle registration without a transfer code: 5 sites compared
- Vehicle registration without FranceConnect: 5 approved sites compared
- French registration confidential code: find it or do without it
- Motorcycle registration: approved sites compared
- ANTS website down: solutions for your registration
- All our service comparisons