Cheapest province to RENEW a South African car licence in 2025

New Year, new inflated costs to renew a South African car licence in 2025. But what you’ll realise when working through the numbers yourself, is that costs vary greatly between provinces. So, what we’ve factored in average vehicle weight – or ‘Tarre’ – which determines how much it costs to renew a South African car licence in 2025.

RENEW A SOUTH AFRICAN CAR LICENCE IN 2025

Sadly, despite talks to the contrary, the Department of Transport still insists that vehicle licences are renewed once a year. As we’ve explored before, thankfully one doesn’t need to wait aimlessly at a Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) any more. Because to renew a South African car licence in 2025 is as simple as going online and checking the NATIS government portal. Or, if you’re that way inclined, go via a supermarket, major retailer or your bank. Each carry their own service costs …

Don’t forget that you have a 21-day grace period to renew a South African car licence in 2025. After it expires and this courtesy runs out, penalty fees will be added onto the standard renewal fees (listed below). This increases exponentially every month left unpaid, and you cannot renew any other vehicles on your name with settling. So, it genuinely does benefit you to keep ahead and timeously renew a South African car licence in 2025.

LICENCE FEES IN ALL NINE PROVINCES

Our licence costs across all nine provinces come courtesy of Foresight Publications. However, we’re also going to arrange the licence fee data by vehicle-weight type for extra convenience. You can click HERE if you’d rather see 2025 car licence fees broken down per province instead. Furthermore, if you’ve encountered any disparate car licence fees in 2025, please be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

2025 LICENCE FEES

Note that any licence renewals through the online NATIS system comes with a R72 service fee and R99 courier/delivery fee. This brings the total cost to R171 on top of the above.

LICENCE FEES BY CAR TYPE

Interesting how different the cost to renew a South African car licence in 2025 can be when you factor in what type (Tarre) of car vehicle it is. There is generally a 20% average price difference for the same type of vehicle across each province. A small supermini (Renault Kwid, for example) weighs less than 1000kg, so the cheapest licencing authority is North West. A conventional-sized hatch (VW Polo) is cheapest to licence in Limpopo. A typical compact crossover (Ford EcoSport) falls into category three and is cheapest to licence in the Eastern Cape.

The Free State is where you want to licence slightly heavier luxury cars (BMW 3 Series/Merc C-Class). Limpopo is cheapest, once again, in the 1750-2000kg stakes (think family SUV like the Audi Q5, etc). And, finally, anything exceeding two tonnes (any large double-cab bakkie and luxury SUV) is cheapest to licence in the Eastern Cape. What’s noteworthy is none of the three most-populous provinces (Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal) rank cheapest anywhere. To the contrary, they’re regularly the most expensive in any weight category.

ARE THESE CAR LICENCE FEES TOO MUCH FOR YOUR BUDGET?

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