Drivers license renewal

[tcofran]

G'day MyBB...

my drivers license expired in December 2013 . forgot about it as i didn't get my renewal notice, but that is another story.

went to Centurion drivers renewal place yesterday. was there just after seven, and by 10:15 we had only moved 10m.

they stamped our forms and told us that we might not be helped in the same day, and if we come back today, we will be put in another queue at the front, but i didn't put in leave or make arrangements for today.

Which will be the best option, as i need to sort this out ASAP

1. Akasia
2. Rayton
3. Waltloo
4. Someone even suggested going to Krugersdorp


Any advice on recent experiences will be appreciated. also please provide the time you went to the location

Thanks

T

 

[Mr.Jax]

Oh great

I'd like to know as well.

Mine expires in a few weeks and I planned on going to Centurion as well.

But why are they so slow ? Surely 3 hours to advance the queue by 10 meters is absolutely pathetic!

 

[Biks]

Oh great

I'd like to know as well.

Mine expires in a few weeks and I planned on going to Centurion as well.

But why are they so slow ? Surely 3 hours to advance the queue by 10 meters is absolutely pathetic!

Not sure about the places you have listed but my wife went yesterday to the Xavier Street office (Xavier Junction). Took about 2 hours for the whole process.

 

[Voyager73]

Hey there

Do you have to retake your drivers ?

G'day MyBB...

my drivers license expired in December 2013 . forgot about it as i didn't get my renewal notice, but that is another story.

went to Centurion drivers renewal place yesterday. was there just after seven, and by 10:15 we had only moved 10m.

they stamped our forms and told us that we might not be helped in the same day, and if we come back today, we will be put in another queue at the front, but i didn't put in leave or make arrangements for today.

Which will be the best option, as i need to sort this out ASAP

1. Akasia
2. Rayton
3. Waltloo
4. Someone even suggested going to Krugersdorp


Any advice on recent experiences will be appreciated. also please provide the time you went to the location

Thanks

T

 

[Debeer165]

Groblersdal. Very fast due to how small they are

 

[psion]

Go where ever just don't go on a Friday. Everyone thinks to do this, oh I will take long weekend, only to spend the whole Friday inside the traffic department :/

People at work went to dronkwordspruit with good results

 

[dews]

I renewed last year at Centurion. Took about 30 minutes. Had to take an eye test and fill in papers. Remember to have your fotos available beforehand and when taking them do not smile, because smiling invalidates to foto's, and makes you unrecognizible.

 

[b_crazy]

Hey there

Do you have to retake your drivers ?

No. No you don't. Just eye test.

 

[EchoZA]

Bedfordview, in and out in under 1/2 hour and that was my wife and myself. My license had expired last year February and hers the year before. No penalties either

 

[tcofran]

my friend also suggested Bedfordview....

maybe have a look at that

 

[phoneJunky]

G'day MyBB...

my drivers license expired in December 2013 . forgot about it as i didn't get my renewal notice, but that is another story.

went to Centurion drivers renewal place yesterday. was there just after seven, and by 10:15 we had only moved 10m.

they stamped our forms and told us that we might not be helped in the same day, and if we come back today, we will be put in another queue at the front, but i didn't put in leave or make arrangements for today.

Which will be the best option, as i need to sort this out ASAP

1. Akasia
2. Rayton
3. Waltloo
4. Someone even suggested going to Krugersdorp


Any advice on recent experiences will be appreciated. also please provide the time you went to the location

Thanks

T

Went to Centurion a week back and took me an hour.

The queue to collect though looked scary long.

 

[Mr.Jax]

Went to Centurion yesterday. Stood in a queue from 7AM until 7h45. That's when they told us that there is no electricity.
Apparently there was more cable theft/vandalism and they expect the power to only be restored in 2 days time.
A lady in the queue told me that she was there last week and they ran out of paper so everyone was sent away.

I then drove to Waltloo.....yeah what can I say. Don't go to Waltloo.

Stood in a fairly long queue for 2 hours not moving one single person forwards. They blamed the constant "system crashes" for the delay. I had a peek inside and of the 8 or so booths, only 2 were manned.

Maybe a drive to Bedfordview will be more efficient after all.

 

[tcofran]

UPDATE:

Ended up going to rayton in the end. was there at 07:15 and back home in Pretoria at 09:00. will always go there from now on..

 

[Mr.Jax]

UPDATE:

Ended up going to rayton in the end. was there at 07:15 and back home in Pretoria at 09:00. will always go there from now on..

Is this the place ?
https://www.google.co.za/maps/place...2!3m1!1s0x1e9556d6c6ab865b:0xcff4f750785b7ab3

 

[nevstarwader]

Smile for ID photo

Go where ever just don't go on a Friday. Everyone thinks to do this, oh I will take long weekend, only to spend the whole Friday inside the traffic department :/

People at work went to dronkwordspruit with good results

Had my photo taken today at Akasia and was told to smile! Have always put on this blank expression for these type of ID photos, but the guy who took the picture after he had done the eye tests, told me to smile. Hope this does not invalidate the renewed driver's licence.

 

[Beachless]

Had my photo taken today at Akasia and was told to smile! Have always put on this blank expression for these type of ID photos, but the guy who took the picture after he had done the eye tests, told me to smile. Hope this does not invalidate the renewed driver's licence.

In SA you should be fine just dont try and use it in the USA, they dont like happy people.

 

[nevstarwader]

I don't know if my comment will help anyone else, because I don't have useful tips. So - for the record...........

Went to Waltloo about 11h15 Monday, and bought 4 ID fotos first, then discovered that the queue containing probably over 100 people had been 'cut' i.e. no longer could anyone join the queue. I don't know how this was being administered because the guard at the door told me this when I asked him if there was a particular queue for driver's licence renewal. There was however only one queue. I didn't see anyone preventing new arrivals from joining the queue.

A helpful young woman who turned out to be a driving instructor, heard me talking to the guard and strongly suggested that I go to the Akasia Licensing offices where I will be done 'chop-chop'. A bit of Google maps navigation took me the 30km to those offices where I found a queue of about 15 people outside the door. My hopes soon faded while the queue hardly moved. It took about 75 minutes to eventually be allowed through the door, only to find the snaking rows of musical chairs, which turned out to be the most exciting activity of the day. This took another hour!

The eyetest went quickly. The eye-tester took an ID photo of me, not wanting the 4 photographs I had bought at Waltloo. He took thumb prints on an electronic biometric device. Hopefully the old system of black ink is a mess of the past. There were 8 eye testing stations - only 3 were being used.

The on to the cashier queue - another 20 minutes. There were at least 5 cashier windows with initially 2 being manned, but soon the one cashier disappeared leaving only one cashier to service the snaking seated queue.

My licence expires in two day’s. I now still have my original licence but I must keep my receipt for payment of the R228 with me while driving. This is not a temporary licence. I am told to go back there in 6 weeks to fetch the renewed licence. Don't know whether I will receive an SMS notification beforehand.

So - there you have it for the little that it is worth. Perhaps I should have gone to Rayton, but after the advice to go to Akasia, that seemed not necessary. I think it just goes to show that these licencing centres can be unpredictable. One person's good experience might no longer apply to someone else the next day.

Several hours of invoice-able time gone. More wasted time which in its miniscule way would have contributed to the country's ever-dwindling growth rate. Multiply these lost hours by the number of people dealing with Licensing offices throughout the country. Less income for me which means less tax that the government gets which it could use to allow all 8 eye-testing machines to be in operation and put 5 tellers behind the cashier counters. All kind of very short-sighted by policy makers in government. The reason that they are not looking far ahead is because they spend so much time looking at their fat wallets and scheming how to take yet another opportunistic bribe.

And JZ thinks corruption is a victimless crime!!! The whole country is a victim. Either he likes the corruption or he is just plain stupid. Take your pick - difficult choice.

Oh yes - I finally was done and walked out of the Akasia offices at 15h00. I arrived back at my office at 15h40 having set out for the Waltloo offices at 11h15, four and a half hours earlier :-(

 

[Shi]

I am told to go back there in 6 weeks to fetch the renewed licence. Don't know whether I will receive an SMS notification beforehand.

I did mine about 2 weeks ago in CT and was told to call them in 6 weeks' time to hear if my new license was ready for collection.

 

[Venomous]

Had my photo taken today at Akasia and was told to smile! Have always put on this blank expression for these type of ID photos, but the guy who took the picture after he had done the eye tests, told me to smile. Hope this does not invalidate the renewed driver's licence.

you may smile for DL and ID pics.
Passport, no smile/teeth permitted. Same for visa pics.

 

[Jakkels1991]

Anyone know till what time these stations are open in the week?