New vehicle licensing system

A brand new licensing system for motor vehicles has come into effect to speed up payment of the 21,838-registered automobiles that are in the country.

Comptroller, Kelvin Pompey said that the old licensing system of paying during November to December was appropriate when there were only 500 vehicles but with over 20,000 today it was tedious and slowed down the efficiency of the Inland Revenue Department.{{more}}

Under the new system, vehicle licences will be renewed in the month represented by the last digit on the licence plate starting in January for those that end with a “1” and ending in October for those ending in a “0”.

In his example, the licence fee for the vehicle P287 would be paid in July 2007 for a year while P260 would pay in October 2007.

Traditionally, licence fees are payable in November and December for the next year.

Starting from Monday, November 20, 2006 motorists will still be required to renew their licences but not for a full year.

“This is called the transition period to bring all motor vehicles on to the whole year system and motor vehicle owners would be paying a pro-rated license fee. They would be paying this fee from January 1 2007 to the end of the month which corresponds to the last digit on the number plate that is in 2007,” said Pompey.

For example, those licences which end in “1” would pay a fee only for one month – January – and then in January they should renew for an entire year. Alternately they could just pay for 13 months.

Another example: those licences which end in “5” will renew this month for five months only and in May 2007 they will be required to renew under the new system for a full year.