Expired licence card? Here’s how long you can still drive

Updated May 28, 2025, 6:04 a.m. | By East Coast Breakfast

Here’s how long you can legally drive before you get fined, and why nearly 750,000 cards are stuck in licence limbo!

Big changes for driving licences in South Africa. — Jacques Stander

If you’ve recently realised your license has expired and you’re still cruising around like you’ve got immunity, you are definitely not alone.

Thanks to a rather dramatic saga involving the country’s one and only driver’s license printing machine, South Africa has been sitting with a serious backlog of license renewals.

How serious, you ask? About 747,748 outstanding driver’s licence cards are waiting to be printed.

That’s nearly three-quarters of a million people stuck in licence limbo.

So, pretty serious, which now begs the question: How long can I drive with my expired licence before the traffic cops turn me into a cautionary tale?

Well, there is good news and bad news, my friends. Let’s unpack it.

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How long can I drive with an expired license?

According to TopAuto, motorists in South Africa can legally drive with an expired driver’s licence card for up to three months, but only under one very important condition.

You must have applied for your new licence before your current one expired. If you did, congratulations!

You’re safe for up to three months while you wait for your new card to arrive. Just make sure you have your proof of application on you in case a roadblock pops up.

If your card expired and you didn’t apply in time, you’ll need to get yourself a temporary driver’s licence (quickly) and keep both that and your application slip with you until your shiny new card is ready. (That could be a while.)

So what’s up with the giant backlog?

Did the printer run out of ink? Well, sort of.

South Africa only has one driver’s licence card printing machine (yep, just one, for the whole country), and it’s a whopping 26 years old.

To put that into perspective: the Spice Girls were topping the charts and dial-up internet was still a thing when this machine was installed.

This poor machine has now experienced nearly 160 breakdowns, and as you would expect from something older than most TikTokers, those breakdowns are happening more and more often.

Even though the Department of Transport managed to get it back up and running on 8 May 2025, the damage had already been done.

Here’s where it’s hitting hardest:

Gauteng - 252,745 outstanding

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) - 115,020 outstanding

Western Cape - 108,402 outstanding

If you’re in one of these provinces and you feel like your card has been missing for ages, now you know why.

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When will this backlog be sorted?

The Department of Transport says a catch-up plan is underway, and officials will keep us updated as progress is made.

However, it also depends on how many new applications are received daily, so the system’s still very much playing catch-up while the machine coughs, wheezes, and tries to stay alive.

So, if your licence card is expired and you are still behind the wheel, make sure you’re covered.

Oh, and maybe say a little prayer for the country’s lone printer while you’re at it.