Last chance for R69 licence disc renewal

FNB customers whose vehicle licence discs have expired or will expire by the end of May 2025 can benefit from a reduced disc renewal fee for another month.

The bank has extended its discounted R69 fee for renewal handling and delivery until the end of March 2025, after previously planning to cease the offer at the end of February.

The promotional price was launched in March 2024 and was initially only supposed to last for four months before going back up to the regular fee of R99.

Barring any further extensions, that price will return after 30 March 2025.

Vehicle licence disc renewals can be done up two months before their expiry date. Therefore, any FNB customer whose licence disc expires up to 30 May can still benefit from the reduced fee.

It should be noted that the R69 excludes the R72 Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) charge, which is added onto all renewals, as well as the licencing fee itself, which is based on the vehicle’s weight and province of registration.

FNB will still be the cheapest channel for an online licence disc renewal with its regular price of R99. This is the same as the fee charged by the government’s own National Administration Traffic Information System (Natis).

In the past, South African motorists had to queue at a Driving Licence Testing Centre or Post Office to renew their vehicle licence discs.

The long queuing times and inconvenience of having to return every year created a market for private third-party companies to handle the process on behalf of individuals and businesses.

Many were willing to pay an additional fee to avoid the hassle themselves.

The services evolved further with a migration to online platforms, eliminating the need to visit an office or call or email the service provider.

FNB was among the first large institutions to launch online licence disc renewals through its mobile app.

When it debuted in June 2017, the service cost R199 and was only available in select provinces. The price has been halved, and the facility is now supported across most of the country.

Explosion of short-lived competition

Over the past few years, a myriad of other online renewal services have emerged as motorists have become increasingly online-savvy and comfortable with transacting online.

However, several of these services were short-lived.

For example, Pick n Pay’s service facilitated by Claim Expert lasted less than two years.

The service was criticised for its high price, which initially cost R445 during a pilot and dropped to R330 over time. It also faced complaints for poor customer communication and months-long delivery delays.

The South African Post Office also quietly shut down its SapoMVL facility sometime between 14 and 28 November 2024.

It was launched in January 2022 and performed surprisingly well in MyBroadband’s testing in September 2022.

However, after shutting down the service the Post Office told MyBroadband that it was only a proof of concept and was not fully implemented.

That comment was curious, considering the state-owned postal service previously said that the service would form part of its key “Sapo in my Pocket” strategy.

It is possible that the service was shuttered due to the Post Office’s deep financial troubles and need to reduce costs.

One of the older and best-priced online licence disc renewal platforms — PayCity — also shut down in June 2024

Shoprite also offered an online renewal facility through its MoneyMarket division for several years.

While it never announced that the service was shuttered, it confirmed that it was no longer available in a Twitter/X post in September 2024.

Despite the limited selection of online renewal services, handling and delivery prices are lower on average than in previous years.

The table below compares the major online vehicle licence disc renewal services in South Africa in March 2025. One other well-known option we did not include was Disky, as it does not advertise its pricing online.