I renewed my driver’s licence without an appointment just outside South Africa’s best smart city

I renewed my driver’s licence at the RTMC Driving Licence Testing Centre in Waterfall, and the experience had both positives and negatives.

The positives were the friendly and helpful staff, and an extremely quick renewal process once I got to the front of the queue.

The negative was that as I did not make an appointment, I was a “walk-in” customer and waited in line for over 3 hours.

Below is the full experience.

No appointment

At the start of August I looked at my driver’s licence and saw it was expiring in 4 weeks.

I did not want to make an appointment at my local driving licence centre for the renewal, as the previous time I went there the service was poor and it took months to get my new licence card.

I therefore searched online and found that the RTMC Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) in Waterfall catered to walk-in renewals.

The Waterfall DLTC is just across the road from Mall of Africa and Waterfall City, and is situated in the Waterfall Office Park.

I arrived at the entrance to the parking lot at 12:38 on a Tuesday afternoon.

There was a 2-minute wait while the security guard ensured there were open parking bays for the people driving in.

Once parked, I walked to the entrance and saw several people sitting outside on chairs and filling in forms on their laps.

The inside of the DLTC was full, with about 50 people seated. I was given a renewal form and told to fill it in while waiting outside – after which I would be called in when there was space.

There were about 10 people sitting outside with me, either filling in their forms or waiting to enter.

It must be noted that when I was inside, an elderly couple walked in. A DLTC employee went forward to greet them, and told them they could go to the front of the line and have a seat.

This was also the case for two other elderly individuals who came later in the day. They were given priority and allowed to go to the front.

After waiting outside for 30 minutes, a person who had renewed their licence and was leaving told the group of us that there was space inside.

We went in, and took a seat in the queue.

Once inside, we were approached twice by different staff members who asked to check our completed forms.

A staff member proactively fixed an error on my form, crossing out a section I was not meant to have filled in.

They also provided feedback to other people in the queue on whether they needed to fill in additional paperwork or if they were missing documents.

This was done in a friendly and positive tone, and at one point a staff member helped several people make printed copies of their ID cards – which was a requirement for the renewal process.

Long wait

The only real negative I experienced was the long wait in the queue.

The majority of people who queued with me were walk-ins with no appointment, so it was a case of getting to the front of the queue before you are helped.

I waited in the queue for a bit over 3 hours. The large majority of this time was seated inside the DLTC.

Staff were constantly assisting people once they reached the front of the queue – apart from a shift change at 14:00, which took a few minutes.

However, not all the booths where you sit to process your driver’s licence renewal were staffed.

Quick renewal

Once I got to the front of the queue, though, the process was very quick.

I was called to a small booth where I sat down in front of a DLTC employee.

I handed them my renewal form, after which my thumbprints were digitally scanned. I did my eye test in my chair, too, which was done by looking into a “vision screener” device.

After this, I provided my signature on a digital pad and paid via card. There were multiple signs up stating they do not take cash.

The entire process from when I sat down in the booth, to paying at the end, took under 10 minutes.

As I had read that it can take up to 2 months to receive your new licence card after your submit your renewal, I asked for a 6-month temporary driver’s licence.

The total costs for the renewal and the temporary licence was R300.