Monday, June 23, 2014

How to Renew Your Car Registration


In Qatar every year you need to renew the registration on your vehicle. It's actually a straightforward process, here's how it works.


1) If your car is more than three years old it has to undergo an annual inspection. Here's a link to a post I did about how to get your car inspected. You will need to have the paper with you showing that your car has passed.

2) You will need to have proof of valid insurance for your car, usually your insurance expires around about the same time as you need to review your car. Review your insurance and have a copy with you when you go to renew your registration. (They will keep the paper so make sure you have a copy of your insurance policy for yourself)

3) Go to the Traffic Department. They used to have a convenient kiosk in the basement of City Center Mall but someone told me a week ago that it was no longer there. I couldn't find information on anywhere else you could go except for the main Traffic Department in the Madinat Khalifa neighbourhood. It's located pretty close to the Shammal/22nd February highway, between LandMark and Al Saad. It’s a new building, if you've been in Qatar while and you're familiar with the Traffic Department that building is closed, the new one is located across the main road from there.

The building looks like this:


3a) when you park you’ll probably see a bunch of guys standing around, mostly Africans, who will then offer to help you with the process for a fee. These guys do speak Arabic but I found that the employees in the Traffic Department had no problem speaking English so you don't need to hire an "assistant". Maybe for more complicated things you might need the help if you don’t speak Arabic.

3b) You will need to bring with you a copy of your insurance, your soon-to-be-expired registration, and the car inspection paper (if your car had to be inspected).

3c) you will see signs outside that say “Licensing and Registration” which point off away from the building. Don't bother wandering off in search of where this is taking you, just go to the main entrance.

4) Going through the main entrance you will enter a HUGE room, with a large round desk about 30 feet in front of you. That's the reception, go there first and tell them you're renewing your registration, they'll then give you a numbered ticket and direct you to an area where the counters are that handle registration renewals (behind them and to the left, but they might direct you somewhere else if you are a lady as I saw a cordoned off “ladies waiting area”).

[Sorry, no pictures, I always get a bit nervous about taking pictures inside Government buildings in this part of the world]

5) When your number is called go up to the appropriate counter.

6) Give them your registration, proof of insurance, and the car inspection paper. Now do you have any outstanding fines or speeding tickets? If you're not sure you’ll find out as they will add the fines to your registration fee. The regular fee is QAR 100, plus any outstanding tickets/fines. They accept debit and credit cards, I'm not sure if they take cash.

7) Once you've paid they will then print out a new registration card for you -- you're done!


Hope this helps.

15 comments:

Ahmad said...

Good information, I am going through this process next month and I think information in your blog are enough for me to understand procedure. Thanx

Anonymous said...

It is very useful. What are the timings of Traffic Police office

Glen McKay said...

Hmmm, not entirely sure about the hours, and I'm on vacation right now. I have been there weekdays at 2pm and at 5:30pm so I suspect they are open every day from something like 7-7 or 8-8. On Fridays they would likely be closed for routine things until after the prayers.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rahul Sudarshan said...

Hi Glen,

Thanks for this very informative post!

Do we need to fill out any forms in arabic?

Regards
Rahul

Anonymous said...

How much is the fine per day for expired car registration... please advise.

Glen McKay said...

Hi Rahul. No, I didn't fill out any forms, in English or Arabic.

To the Anonymous poster, sorry I don't know what the fine is for expired registration. Contact the Ministry of Interior or the Traffic Department.

Aadil Sayed said...

Hi Glen,

As far as I know, you are allowed one month grace period after the expiry of the car registration to renew it. However, failing to do so after the grace period, the fine is 1500 QAR.

sainu's archives said...

What are the opening time today

sainu's archives said...

What are the opening time today

Glen McKay said...

I'm not sure. It is possible it is closed all week for the Eid Holiday. Most Government offices are closed until I think Sunday.

Unknown said...

how to acquire a driving license in qatar

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this just renewed without issue!

Anonymous said...

IS it possible to renew car registration at Airport Traffic department. Or they only do this in Madinat Khalifa?

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