Government clarifies ‘booking fees’ for driver licences in South Africa

The Department of Transport has updated its regulations for the fees chargeable by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), providing clarity around its contentious ‘booking fees’.

A previous version of the regulations included a R250 online booking fee for the renewal of a credit card format driving licence.

Civil society groups including the Automobile Association (AA) and Outa flagged the fee, claiming that the department was trying to double-charge motorists for licence renewals.

The AA said that the reading of the proposal, as it was originally worded in the gazette, meant that the government intended to charge motorists R250 for online bookings to renew a licence – for the booking only, excluding the actual cost of the licence.

When the issue was raised, the RTMC claimed that the AA and Outa were misleading the public. The RTMC said that the R250 fee included the issuance of the credit card format driving licence and that the price had not changed.

The transport department has now issued a new version of the regulations with updated wording to dispel any confusion. These new regulations are in draft and are open to public comment for 30 days.

They state that the RTMC provides the following services for which it may charge fees:

• Development, maintenance and operation of NaTIS;
• Law enforcement services are rendered as an issuing authority for the purposes of the NRTA, NLTA, CBRTA and AARTO;
• NaTIS online convenience Services;
• Collecting revenue on behalf of a department or local government body;
• All fines are payable to the RTMC as an issuing authority for the purposes of the NRTA, NLTA, CBRTA and AARTO.

“Driving licence cardholders are already paying this fee when renewing their credit card format driving licences at the licensing centres. It is money paid for the production of the credit card format driving licence,” the Road Traffic Management Corporation said.

“The proposed change seeks to make it convenient for driving licence cardholders to make this payment online when making a booking to renew driving licence cards.

“It is therefore not new, and it is not an additional fee.”

In an effort to improve efficiency and to cut the time that members of the public spend queuing at licencing centres, it is proposed that the public will have an option to make online payments for the renewal of driving licence cards or vehicle licence disks and to have these documents delivered directly to the address of their choice, the RTMC said.

This will improve service delivery, cut the time spent on queues at the licencing centres and bring about much-needed convenience to members of the public and other stakeholders. The R72 transaction fee has been in existence for many years and has not been changed in more than three years.

“To further streamline services, it is proposed that the registration of a vehicle by a title owner and the notification of change of ownership will in future be done online, it said.

“Insurance companies will also be able to access an electronic copy of an Accident Report. Members have called for these improvements, and they are in line with the new way of doing business in the digital era in which we live. ”

Read: Good news for driver licence renewals in South Africa.