US Vehicle Registration OCR with Python SDK

Reading the US state vehicle registration card

Each US state DMV issues its own registration card, so the position of the plate number, VIN, make, model year, owner name and expiration date differs by state. Insurers, fleet managers and dealers collect these cards as photos and still type the VIN and plate by hand.

A Server-Side Python Workflow

The StructOCR Vehicle Registration OCR API returns standardized fields for every country (VIN, plate, make, model, year and colour) and a localized block for country-specific fields. State-specific fields such as the expiration date and owner name are returned under localized.generic.unmapped_fields when printed. For the business use cases, see US DMV registration OCR and US DMV title VIN OCR.

Where Teams Use It

• Auto insurance: Prefill VIN, plate and vehicle details at quote and claim.
• Fleet management: Keep each vehicle's registration and expiration date on file.
• Dealers and marketplaces: Capture vehicle details when a car is listed or traded in.

US Vehicle Registration OCR with Python SDK

The official Python SDK reads a local file and calls /v1/vehicle-registration. The API reference documents every field.

Prerequisite: `pip install structocr`; set the server-side `STRUCTOCR_API_KEY` environment variable.

import os
from structocr import StructOCR

client = StructOCR(os.environ["STRUCTOCR_API_KEY"])
result = client.scan_vehicle_registration("registration.jpg")

if result.get("success"):
    data = result["data"]
    std = data["standardized"]
    print(std["vin"], std["plate"]["formatted"], std["make_normalized"], std["year"])
    print(data["localized"])
else:
    print(result.get("error"))

JSON Response Example

An illustrative response with fictional values.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "document": {
      "country_code": "US",
      "document_type": "VEHICLE_REGISTRATION",
      "confidence_score": 0.95
    },
    "standardized": {
      "vin": "1HGCM82633A004352",
      "plate": {
        "number": "8ABC123",
        "letters_normalized": null,
        "formatted": "8ABC123"
      },
      "make_raw": "HONDA",
      "make_normalized": "HONDA",
      "model_raw": "ACCORD",
      "model_normalized": "ACCORD",
      "year": 2003,
      "color_raw": null,
      "color_normalized": null
    },
    "localized": {
      "generic": {
        "unmapped_fields": {
          "state": "CA",
          "registration_expiration": "2027-06-30",
          "owner_name": "JANE DOE"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}