Price increases for motorists renewing their car licences in South Africa’s richest province

The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport has published new draft amendments to raise the price of vehicle registrations and licence disc renewals.

The draft amendments were published in the Gauteng Provincial Traffic Regulations and propose a R12 increase to vehicle registration fees.

If approved, the fee for car registrations will be increased to R240, while light motorcycles, motorised tricycles, and quadricycles will increase to R264. Non-self-propelled caravan registration fees will increase from R420 to R444.

These changes were first announced by Gauteng MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela in August 2026. The draft regulations were gazetted and made available for public comment for a limited period, which ended on 23 September 2026.

One of the primary changes in the notice is a general increase in licence disc renewal fees across all vehicle classes.

These fees are calculated on a tiered scale based on tare weight in kilograms. The proposed fee hikes range from R12 for the smallest class, up to nearly R2,000 for heavy commercial vehicles.

Below is a list of the proposed licence disc fee increases according to tare weight:

• 0 to 250kg – R252.00 to R264.00
• 251 to 500kg – R396.00 to R420.00
• 501 to 750kg – R432.00 to R456.00
• 751 to 1,000kg – R456.00 to R480.00
• 1,001 to 1,250kg – R528.00 to R564.00
• 1,251 to 1,500kg – R732.00 to R780.00
• 1,751 to 2,000kg – R1,104.00 to R1,176.00
• 2,001 to 2,250kg – R1,284.00 to R1,368.00
• 2,251 to 2,500kg – R1,536.00 to R1,632.00
• 2,501 to 2,750kg – R1,728.00 to R1,836.00
• 2,751 to 3,000kg – R1,956.00 to R2,076.00
• 11,501 to 12,000kg – R32,112.00 to R34,080.00

Tare refers to the weight of a vehicle without passengers and minimal fluids, including oil, coolant, and 10 litres of fuel.

Heavier vehicles face higher taxes because they cause more damage to road surfaces, necessitating more frequent repairs.

A new tax on vehicle licence discs

While an adjustment to car licence disc renewal fees is nothing out of the ordinary, the process may become a lot more expensive if the Department of Transport goes ahead with its plan to implement a new tax to the system.

Earlier this year, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy announced that her department was considering a new tax linked to vehicle registrations and licence disc renewals.

This fee would be used to generate additional revenue for the Road Accident Fund (RAF), a state-owned entity that exists to compensate victims of vehicle accidents.

The RAF is funded by a R2.25 per litre levy added to the retail price of petrol and diesel. While this levy generates roughly R50 billion per year in revenue, the RAF is technically insolvent with hundreds of billions of rands in debt.

The department argued that this was partly due to the rise of electric vehicles, which do not use fuel and therefore do not pay the RAF levy.

However, this argument has been refuted by civil action groups, who pointed out that EV adoption is nowhere near the point where it would have a meaningful impact on the RAF.

Creecy also did not clarify if the new tax linked to car licence disc renewals would only apply to EV owners or all motorists, even though the latter already pay fuel taxes.