What You Need To Renew Your South African Motor Vehicle Licence Disc (ALV) – 2018
Since the my first post about “What you need to renew your South African drivers licence – 2018” was so popular, I’ve decided to do another post about how to renew your South African motor vehicle licence disc.
What You Will Need:
- The renewal notification document which was posted to you (MVL2)
- Your green barcoded ID book or ID smartcard
- Cash for the licencing fees.
If You Did Not Receive A Renewal Notification
If you are one of many who did not receive the notification in the post you will need to take along the following:
- Application For Licensing of Motor Vehicle (ALV) form aka the green form. You will need to fill out 3 sections, namely A. Particulars of Owner, D. Identification of Motor Vehicle and E. Declaration. You can download a copy here.
- Proof or residence to your current address
- Your green barcoded ID book or smartcard
- Cash for the licencing fees
If The Vehicle Is A Company Vehicle
- Company’s business certificate
- Your ID
- Letter from company to state that you are their proxy
- Motor vehicle licence renewal notice (MVL2). If you do not have the renewal notice or did not receive it in the post, complete form ALV1
- Cash for the licencing fees
If the vehicle is in someone else’s name or to renew on their behalf
- A copy of the person’s ID document or ID smartcard,
- Their proof of address
- A letter saying you are authorized to renew and sign on their behalf
Cost
The cost for an average hatchback vehicle in 2018 is R552 (R492 previously) and differs per province. This is a R60 or 12% increase for a piece of paper that you stick in your car’s window.
On the renewal notice there was mention of a central Traffic Inspectorate branch for the region which mentioned that they do accept debit and credit card payments but this may differ per province.
For an in-depth look at the fees, you can view this page.
Where To Go To Update Your Licence
I recommend you go to an SA Post Office (SAPO) instead of a Road Traffic Inspectorate testing centre (RTI) although the lines at the RTI are much shorter for licence disc renewals.
Most SAPO branches do renewals. You can find a list of the branches here.
How to choose a good day and time to go to the Post Office.
Before and after the December and January holiday season is a good time to renew your licence. People are on leave and have extra time to do personal admin. The end of February proved to be a great time to do this for me.
Go to Google and search for your local SAPO branch. Mine is Westville Post Office in Durban. You can see the operating times for your particular branch as well.
The best feature here to your advantage is the Popular Times section.
Here you can choose the day and see a graph of the times that the particular post office is the quietest.
I chose a Friday at 12 midday. This turned out great as there were only 3 people in the queue. It took me about 5 minutes to be helped and I was done within 10 minutes. What a great experience!
I had received the renewal notice in the post (albeit late) but this saved time in having to fill out the ALV form with my particulars. I also did not need the proof of address.
How much time do I have to renew my licence?
You get 21 days as a grace period to renew your licence disc whereafter you will incur penalties for each day overdue. The grace period is calculated from the expiry date on your current licence disc and if the licence is not renewed by the end of the grace period, penalties will be charged. Penalties are calculated at 1/10th of the licencing fee for every month that the licence remains lapsed. My licence renewal was overdue by 33 days on top of this. The penalties amounted to R136 or about R4.12 per day. The SAPO does not accept any card payments so you have to take cash.
Can you renew your car licence if you have fines outstanding?
Yes. The eNatis system is operated independently and cannot check if you have outstanding fines in your name.
Can you renew your car licence if you have any other car licence renewals outstanding on vehicles in your name?
No. This happened to the customer in front of me in the queue. He had another vehicle in his name which was sold to someone else. He was not able to renew his licence disc and had to phone other person to remind them to bring that licence up to date. In this case he did not have enough cash on him to renew both his current licence and the other vehicle.
Please share so that you can help someone else. If I missed anything please drop us a line in the comment!