New PO box service for Dubai driving licences

DUBAI // Residents who renew their driving licence and car registration online or through a call centre will be given the option of having their documents mailed to a PO box for free from next year.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will offer the service for free as an alternative to the current courier service provided through a partnership with Fed Ex.

"We have 1.3 million transactions annually happening online and through the call centres which require the customer to either come and pick up his documents from a service centre or have them couriered at the cost of Dh20," said Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, the chief executive of RTA's Licensing Agency.

"This is a public service we are providing for our clients to improve our customer service and satisfaction as well as encourage people to use our electronic services which will save them fuel and time."

From next month, the agency will also send clients notice of vehicle registration renewal by post, and later this year they will notify customers of driver's licence renewals.

The cost of postage will be covered by advertisements printed on the envelopes.

Mr Bahrozyan said the RTA also wishes to improve its channels of communication with their clients. "Currently we have two channels: SMS and email. With this service we will add a third, which is the PO box."

Part of the reason for introducing the service is to try to reduce the number of non-registered vehicles in Dubai, Mr Bahrozyan admitted.

"There are about 1,080,000 registered vehicles in Dubai, 70 per cent of which are private, and the rest commercial.

"About 10 per cent of all vehicles are non-registered, but this figure is not very accurate as many of these vehicles may no longer be on the roads."