Cheapest ways to renew car licence discs in South Africa

South African motorists looking to renew their licence discs now have several service providers that charge less than R200 for renewal and delivery straight to their doors.

South Africa’s road laws determine that vehicle licence discs are only valid for one year before they have to be renewed.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) recently warned that there were many licence disc renewals due from August to December.

This is due to multiple extensions of motor vehicle licence expiry dates granted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, 1,049,412 motor vehicle licences were due to expire in September 2023.

Failing to renew your licence disc can result in varying financial penalties, based on how long after the expiry date you apply.

Traffic officers could also slap you with a R1,000 fine for driving with an expired licence disc after the standard 21-day grace period.

Licence discs in windscreen, with road safety officer Jennifer Solomons placing sticker

Fortunately, the days of standing in long queues at Post Offices or driving licence testing centres to get a new disc are long gone.

A myriad of private and government service providers will complete the process on your behalf and courier your new licence disc to your preferred destination — for a fee.

MyBroadband compared the pricing and availability of major providers that offer this service in September 2023.

We found that PayCity was the cheapest option overall, charging R113.85 on top of the cost of the licensing fee itself.

The latter will be the same across all services but will vary based on the tare weight of your vehicle.

For instance, the licencing fee for a Kia Sonet that weighs between 1,000kg and 1,250kg currently costs R462.

Therefore, the owner of this vehicle will pay R462 plus the R113.85 when renewing through PayCity, coming to a total cost of R575.85.

Cheapest option available nationally

However, PayCity’s services are unavailable in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and areas outside the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape.

The cheapest option available to motorists nationwide is the South African Post Office — which charges R147 for the service fee and delivery.

Tied for third most affordable is one of the earliest providers of the service — FNB — which has reduced its fee from R199 to R171.

That is equal to the fee RTMC’s National Traffic Information System (Natis) Online Services charges.

This is no coincidence — the bank recently added the RTMC as one of the service providers for its service — in addition to Road Protect.

The most expensive of the bunch remains Pick n Pay’s service, which comes with a hefty R250 admin fee and R79.99 for delivery.

At a total cost of R329.99, it is three times as expensive as PayCity and over twice the cost of the South African Post Office.

Spar’s R239 renewal service was also on the expensive side.

The table below compares the prices and availability of vehicle licence disc renewal and delivery services in South Africa.

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