It’s 11 am, one of your trucks was stuck at the borders for hours due to a paperwork issue. After a very long call to resolve this matter, you get a call from another driver saying his vehicle is being taken in by the police because the licence disc expired six months ago. ‘How could I forget?' you ask yourself. What will you say to the customer that’s already expecting the delivery? It’s one problem after the other; when will you catch a break?
With the right fleet management system, all of this could’ve been avoided. That’s where we come in. The Cartrack fleet management platform helps you keep up with vehicle and driver licences so you have less to worry about. Stick around to find out how we do it.
Spreadsheets and calendar reminders don’t work because they’re all on different platforms, and when managing a fleet, there’s no way you’ll remember to check on everything. So the best way to ensure you never miss licence renewals is to have those reminders right on your fleet management platform. This way you’ll have all your alerts in one place.
The Cartrack fleet management platform has a reminders feature, where you can set reminders for all admin-related tasks like driver licence expiry dates and toll fines. Each reminder will be sent to the specific driver who needs to attend to it either via email or SMS. You get to decide how far in advance the reminder should go off and how often the alert should repeat.
These reminders are separated into two categories:
You’ll have a table overview for each category showing you at first glance the status of each reminder, like which ones are overdue, by exactly how many days they’re overdue, and which have been attended to. This way you can check in with the person responsible to find out why a licence hasn’t been renewed.
Vehicle and driver licence renewals each have their own rules and requirements. Knowing things like how far in advance you should apply, where to apply, which documents are required, and when you’ll receive the licence will save you from being on the bad side of the law.
Gone are the days of showing up unannounced and waiting in long queues. To renew a driver’s licence, your drivers first need to book an appointment through the NaTIS (National Traffic Information System) online services website.
This is what your drivers must have upon arrival:
Remember that driver licence renewals must be done at least four weeks before the expiry date, so your reminders should align with that. Their new licences will be ready for collection within four to six weeks.
For quicker service, you can tell your drivers to check with their banks, since some branches now offer driver licence renewal services.
Unlike driver licences, the responsibility of a vehicle licence renewal mostly lies with you as the fleet manager. Most fleet businesses use third-party service providers like Reg 24 to save time.
Vehicle licence renewals must be completed every year before the expiry date on the disc. If your vehicle licence has already expired, you’ll get a 21-day grace period. However, if you run a fleet of buses, you have to renew your vehicle licences twice a year, which is every six months.
Whether they’re done individually or through a third-party service provider, you’ll need the following:
You can also renew your fleet’s vehicle licences online on the NaTIS website and have them delivered to you.
Motor vehicle licence penalties: Failure to renew your vehicle licences will result in late licensing penalties and arrears. If a disc expired way too long ago, then the vehicle may be confiscated and impounded.
Driver licence penalties: According to the K53 website, drivers with licences that have expired over three months ago (which is the grace period) face penalty charges ranging from R500 to R1250. They’ll have to apply for temporary licences and pay for them too.
During the 3-month grace period, your drivers must carry proof of application while they drive.
Missed licence renewals can have negative effects on your business in various ways because with a fleet, one hiccup can affect your entire operations. It leads to fewer drivers being available for jobs and more vehicles being unable to operate. You’ll lose money and dent the company reputation.
Here’s what we mean:
If your drivers don’t renew their licences on time, they can’t drive your vehicles. A shortage of drivers results in less productivity and efficiency. When licence discs have expired, your vehicles can’t be on the road. This results in less vehicles being available for your transport services and again, less productivity and efficiency.
When your drivers are on the road without valid licences, your business faces penalty charges and impoundment. These can cost thousands, placing the business at a financial loss that could’ve easily been avoided.
The downtime also makes your customers lose their trust in your services. Customers want a company that’ll always deliver on their promises. If you’re always having downtime due to licence renewals, they’ll see that as an excuse and look for a business that performs better.
There are two new laws about driver licences that you should know. The 10-year driver licence renewals and the AARTO Act. The laws are aimed at alleviating drivers from having to make frequent visits to the licensing department and improving safety on the road.
Here’s how they work:
Good news for your drivers! The Cabinet has approved the extension of driving licence card validity in South Africa. Renewal periods will increase from five to 10 years. This was announced on July 30th by the minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
However, this extension only applies to light motor vehicles with licence codes A, A1, B and EB. Drivers who operate heavy vehicles will still need to follow the current licence renewal laws. This also includes those who have Professional Driving Permits (PrDPs).
This new law hasn’t been gazetted, so until then, everyone needs to follow the normal cycles.
The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act is a law that’s been in the works for many years but only came into effect recently. It’s a system that’s meant to encourage driver safety and compliance through a demerit point system. The demerits are based on various traffic offences, and driving with an expired licence is one of them.
Every driver starts on zero and with every traffic fine they get demerits. The demerits have a maximum of 12 points, and if a driver exceeds this, their licence will be suspended for a period of three months for each point above 12.
We have an entire article that best explains how this system works, so make sure you have a look to see what you and your drivers need to watch out for.
If you want to manage the costs of late licence disc renewals, we have a solution for you. At Cartrack we have a cost management platform called MiFleet, which helps fleet managers keep up with the cost of each vehicle. You can import all the invoices for your fleet fines onto the Cartrack platform to see exactly how much each vehicle is costing you.
If you’ve partnered with third-party companies like IOX to handle licence disc renewals and their costs, our API-first software allows your third-party service provider to import all those costs onto the Cartrack platform. This gives you all your cost overviews on one platform.
The Cartrack reminders feature not only works for licence renewals; you can also set reminders for many other things that are easily forgettable, like maintenance service dates. When all your reminders are on the same platform, you’ll see notifications while checking your other fleet-related matters, helping you act quickly.
You can only access this feature when you already have our standard fleet management solutions. Make sure to contact us to see all the services we have for you.
Make sure you and your drivers never miss your licence renewal dates with our reminders solution. Find out how it works.
