Most expensive vehicle licence discs in South Africa

KwaZulu-Natal has the most expensive vehicle licence disc fees for standard passenger vehicles in South Africa.

While South African motorists have some choice when it comes to the service fee segment of their licence disc renewal’s cost, the more significant cost element — the actual annual vehicle licence fee — is determined by their car’s tare weight and province of registration.

The tare is the weight of a vehicle without a driver or passengers, but including fluids like oils and coolant, as well as 10 litres of fuel.

This should not be confused with the kerb weight, which includes a full tank of fuel; or the gross weight, which is the maximum weight of the car with all passengers and baggage.

The higher the vehicle tare, the more expensive the licence disc fee.

The basic reasoning behind this is that heavier cars cause more road degradation, and licence disc fees are meant to contribute towards road maintenance.

Legislation currently divides tare weights into 48 categories of 250kg ranges, starting from 0kg and going up to 12,000kg.

South African passenger cars typically have tare weights between 750kg and 2,500kg, with the former applying to small hatchbacks and the latter to luxury SUVs and large bakkies.

Compact and medium-sized SUVs, crossovers, and sedans typically fall in the three tare categories between 1,250kg and 2,000kg.

East Coast car owners take the heaviest hit

South Africa’s provincial governments revise their vehicle licence disc fees from time to time. There is no set term between these changes.

Adjustments are published in a provincial gazette.

Foresight Publications keeps track of roads and transport legislation and numerous fees in the industry, including toll charges and vehicle licence disc renewal fees.

MyBroadband used its data to compare the fees for renewing licence discs on vehicles with the most common tare weights, going from 250kg to 3,500kg.

The latter is the highest unladen weight that a vehicle might have to be driven with a regular Code B licence.

KwaZulu-Natal was the most expensive in the majority of tare categories, except for 250–500kg, which primarily applies to motorcycles, and the 1,750–2,000kg category, which commonly applies to single-cab bakkies and large SUVs.

Gauteng’s fees were the highest in these two categories.

The province with the lowest licence disc fees across all categories was the North West.

The difference between its fee for the 250–500kg tare category and Gauteng’s was R90, while its fee for the 3,250–3,500kg category was R582 cheaper than in KwaZulu-Natal.

However, these fees might be due for a revision, as they first came into effect in mid-2019. Most of the other provinces have revised their fees in recent years.

The only exception is the Eastern Cape, which last adjusted its fees in June 2018.

The tables below show the latest vehicle licence disc renewal fees for all nine provinces in South Africa.