By: Myles Illidge - MyBroadband

FNB recently slashed the pricing of its licence disc renewal service from R171 to R99, including delivery, making it the cheapest provider in South Africa.

The law requires South African motorists to renew their vehicle licence discs annually, a once frustrating experience considering there was a time when doing so was only possible by visiting a Post Office or driving licence testing centre in person.

Post Offices also only started accepting card payments for licence disc renewals in the past few years. Before then, you had to bring cash — and hope the branch had the correct change.

These days, several private and government service providers can complete the process on your behalf and deliver the document to your door — for a fee.

MyBroadband compared the pricing and availability of various licence disc renewal service providers in South Africa.

Our analysis found that FNB’s service is the cheapest by some margin at R99, including delivery, with the next most affordable option being the South African Post Office’s service (now available online) at R147.

The Post Office’s price comprises a R72 admin and R75 delivery fee.

PayCity is also relatively affordable compared to some other providers at R166.75, and is also all-inclusive.

Notably, the above licence disc renewal services are cheaper than the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC’s) own platform, which charges a R72 admin fee and R99 for delivery.

Shoprite recently temporarily reduced its renewal service price by R40 from R225 to R185.

Shoprite said the “special offer” was in response to millions of licence discs that expired in September and October 2023. However, the pricing was still in effect as of 8 January 2024.

The price cut makes Shoprite’s offering cheaper than Spar’s, and makes it the lowest licence disc renewal price offered by a South African retailer — almost R150 cheaper than Pick n Pay’s offering.

In addition to cutting its prices, FNB added the ability for its customers to pay for their licences using their eBucks balance.

Customers renewing multiple vehicle licence discs simultaneously will only pay an extra R49 service fee for each additional vehicle being renewed in the same basket.

The table below compares the prices of licence disc renewal services from major providers in South Africa.