Photo: Pierre 1700 / Flickr
Photo: Pierre 1700 / Flickr
It’s the end of an era for this current batch of Cape Town number plates. Motorists are in for a big change as early as this week, as the city begins to roll out licenses beginning with “CAA”, rather than “CA”.
It’s simply a game of numbers. Almost every possible variation of the “CA” plates have been taken by car owners across the province. The local code of the Mother City has been exhausted, meaning that a new variation has to be introduced so people can continue to register new vehicles.
It’s a testament to just how many vehicles are on the road in Cape Town. The city is often identified as South Africa’s most congested and technical issues such as these serve as a perfect illustration.
The good news is that you can still transfer your old plates to a new vehicle if you so wish. Furthermore, registering your vehicle with the new “CAA” comes at no extra cost, unless you’re feeling frivolous.
The first 9 999 available plates (between CAA 0001 – CAA 9999) have been reserved as special license numbers. You have to ask for these on request, and snagging one of these could cost between R600 – R10 000. If you’re not in the mood for a vanity plate, you’ll be given a number starting from CAA 10000 free of charge.
The bad news is that authorities can’t predict the exact day that the changeover will happen. And, they are at the mercy of their technology: Once the final “CA” plate has been sold, the registration systems will not allow any new licenses to be processed that day.
Technical disruptions could cause havoc for motorists taking care of their admin, whenever this “changeover day” occurs. The Western Cape government have issued a statement on the matter, asking locals to stay patient when the inevitable finally does take place.
“At the moment that available CA combinations run out, the system will not permit new licence numbers to be issued for the rest of that day. Anyone waiting for a new licence mark will have to wait until the next business day for a CAA number to be issued.”
“This disruption is unavoidable for technical reasons, and members of the public are requested to be patient with registering authorities on the day of the changeover.”
Western Cape government
Goodbye CA registration, hello CAA number plates. pic.twitter.com/0amSI3uZ86
— Sphiwe Hobasi (@MrCow_man) April 8, 2019