Cheapest way to renew your car licence disc in South Africa: Post Office vs FNB and more

BusinessTech has looked at ten ways South Africans can renew their vehicle licence discs, with services offered by FNB as well as government’s National Traffic Information System (Natis) Online emerging as the cheapest.

Gone are the days of having only two options when renewing your vehicle licence disc. This often involved standing in long queues at a licencing centre or Post Office, taking more than a couple of hours out of your day to complete.

In 2024 there are now several avenues that South Africans can take to renew their discs – including dedicated online licencing services, banks, retailers, and the long-standing post office.

Last year, the Road Traffic Management Corporation said that there was a mounting number (over 1 million) of licence disks about to expire.

As a result, it said that it is taking proactive steps to get motorists to renew on time and is sending out email and SMS reminders to owners whose motor vehicle licences are expiring.

In South Africa, motorists are given a 21-day grace period to renew an expired motor vehicle licence. The grace period is calculated from the expiry date of the current licence disc, and a late renewal penalty applies after this time.

The penalty fee is calculated at 10% of the annual licencing fee every month the licence remains lapsed.

So, for example, if your annual licencing fee is R384 (as it is in Gauteng for a vehicle exceeding 750kg but not exceeding 1,000kg), the penalty for not renewing your licence would be R38.40 per month.

Cheapest options

FNB’s services emerge as the cheapest options, with nationwide promotional prices sitting at R69 and regular prices at R99. This is a substantial drop from the R171 that they charged in October 2023.

Government’s National Traffic Information System (Natis) Online similarly sits at R99.

The South African Post Office (SapoMVL) is next at R147, which involves a R72 service fee and R75 delivery fee.

Last year’s cheapest option, PayCity, now sits at fourth at R166.75 – a R52.90 increase.

The most expensive option belonged to Pick n Pay, at R329.99. However, Pick n Pay told MyBroadband that this service was suspended in mid-2023 until it is satisfied with its “new” offering.

This suggests that the company is planning to relaunch licence disc renewals in the future.

The prices to renew a vehicle licence with the service providers discussed are summarised in the table below, as outlined by MyBroadband.

Reported with MyBroadband.

Read: Big changes to traffic fines in South Africa coming soon