Dubai: Dubai Police urge people to renew their car registration on time to avoid being fined or have their cars confiscated.

“We have had many instances of people driving vehicles with expired registration, and they are aware of it,” Colonel Jamal Al Bannai, Deputy Director of Dubai Traffic Police, said.

He noted that there were cases where people renewed only their insurance policy, but not their car registration. “They are concerned about the insurance because it protects them but they think there is no point in renewing the registration,” he observed.

In the first half of 2015, Dubai Police issued 11,294 fines for vehicles with expired vehicle registration. April saw the highest number of fines at 1,995.

This is just a fraction of the number of unregistered vehicles, as these are the ones that get caught, Col Al Bannai said.

“We want people to register their car to avoid the penalty for delayed registration and not get fined if stopped by police for any reason,” Col Al Bannai said.

Some people, he said, postpone or ignore renewing the registration of their car because they have accumulated fines and are not able to pay them.

“This is why we urge people to be punctual in paying fines, so that it does not become a financial burden [eventually]. We have also made it possible for people to pay their fines in instalments,” he said.

And there is another category of people who have no fines and yet delay the renewal of car registration, he said.

Not renewing vehicle registration after its expiry date warrants a fine of Dh400 if stopped by police, and if the registration has expired for over three months, the vehicle will be impounded even if there are no fines issued against it.

According to the Roads and Transport Authority website, vehicle registration can be renewed 30 days before the date of expiry.

After the expiry date, there is a 30-day grace period for registration renewal for those without fines barring the payment of registration fees. Beyond this period, a monthly late registration fine will apply in addition to monthly fees that are applicable from the date of expiry of the vehicle registration.

Motorists are also sent an SMS by the RTA reminding them about their vehicle registration’s expiry date.

If the vehicle registration is not renewed for a period of three years, the registration will be cancelled.