When a vehicle is financed, the bank is recorded as titleholder and holds the NATIS registration document until the finance is settled. This page covers requesting that document from Absa. The contact route was read from Absa’s own vehicle finance pages, most recently on 2 September 2026.
Task scope
A NATIS request is the step after settling a vehicle finance agreement: asking Absa to release the registration certificate and record that it is no longer the titleholder, so the vehicle can be registered in your name alone or sold.
NATIS stands for the National Traffic Information System. The document is often called the registration certificate, the RC1 or simply “the papers”.
Route
- Absa vehicle finance: 0860 669 669
- Islamic vehicle finance: 0860 000 786 – a distinct product with its own line
- Online: the Absa self-service and banking app, for settlement quotes and statements
Absa publishes no NATIS-specific number or email. The request goes through the vehicle finance line above. Any “Absa NATIS department” number found on a directory is not published by the bank.
Requirements
Have the agreement or account number, the vehicle registration number and the VIN, plus your identity document. The bank matches the release to the agreement, not to your name alone.
Ask for a settlement quote first, not the statement balance. The two differ, and paying the balance shown on a statement can leave a small amount outstanding – which is enough to stop the NATIS document being released. A settlement quote is valid to a stated date.
Confirm the delivery address the bank holds for you before the document is dispatched. A registration certificate posted to an old address is a serious problem to unwind, because a duplicate has to be applied for through a licensing authority.
Steps
Settle the agreement in full, then phone 0860 669 669 to request release of the NATIS document, quoting the agreement number. Keep proof of settlement and the reference number for the request.
Releasing the papers is not the end of it. Once you hold the NATIS document you must still register the change of title at your local licensing authority so the vehicle is recorded in your name with no titleholder. Selling a car while the bank is still recorded as titleholder cannot be completed.
Allow time. Release involves the bank’s records and the traffic register, so it is not same-day, and a sale that depends on it should not be scheduled tightly.
Escalation
Chase on 0860 669 669 with the settlement proof and the reference, then put it in writing. If the document is genuinely lost, a duplicate is applied for at a licensing authority – the bank cannot reissue a NATIS document itself.
An unresolved dispute about the credit agreement goes to the National Credit Regulator or the Credit Ombud, since vehicle finance is a credit agreement. A banking service failure goes to the National Financial Ombud Scheme. Errors on the traffic register itself are matters for the licensing authority and the Department of Transport, not the bank.
Sources
- absa.co.za vehicle finance pages, read 30 August and 2 September 2026