South Africa: Post Office on online car licence renewals

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The SA Post Office has seen a healthy uptake for its facility for the online renewal of motor vehicle licences, which it launched at the end of January 2022.  More than 37 000 vehicle licences have been renewed nationally through the system, most of them in Gauteng.  

The Post Office says the initial teething problems have been resolved and the system, which is available on https://www.sapomvl.co.za(link is external), now works efficiently.  

The full renewal process, including payment, is done online, leaving only the last step of accessing the actual disc.  This is done in one of two ways: the SA Post Office can deliver the disc to the customer at a delivery fee of R75 or the disc can be collected free of charge from the Post Office branch selected by the customer.   

Payment is done safely and securely through your bank’s Masterpass app, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for Android devices or the Apple App Store for Apple devices.  

The Post Office is licenced to do car licence renewals and for that reason no commission is charged on the renewal transaction.   

The documents required when you renew your licence at a Post Office branch have to be uploaded for the online renewal: A certified copy of the car owner’s ID and for cars registered in KwaZulu-Natal, proof of address no older than three months.  

The customer will receive an SMS when the disc arrives at the destination Post Office for collection or when it goes out for delivery. Turnaround time is ten working days.  It is therefore recommended to start with the renewal well before the end of the month, before another month’s licence fee becomes due. 

The online renewal facility for motor vehicle licences does not replace the current renewal service available at selected Post Office branches.  Many customers prefer to pay their licence and leave immediately with the new licence, and they can do that at a Post Office branch.  As with the online renewal, the customer pays only the licence fee as it appears on the renewal notice and the Post Office does not charge any commission.  

The service is available for vehicle owners in all provinces of South Africa except, for the moment, in the Western Cape. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: South African Post Office.