Dubai drivers told to buy new plates by 2020

Dubai motorists will have to upgrade their licence plates by the start of 2020.

The Roads and Transport Authority said the mandatory move would apply to cars registered to private owners, companies and government departments.

Announcing the measure in a tweet, officials said the deadline for the ruling would be January 1, 2020.

The authority said the upgrade was due to a new strategy, although it was not immediately clear what this would be.

The cost of replacement will vary, with prices for licence plates with lower numbers starting at Dh35. Those with higher digits will cost up to Dh50.

New car registrations from January next year will be given the newly designed licence plates, the RTA said.

“As of July next year, RTA will start the mandatory issuance of the new plates to vehicles registered in the name of public and private organisations,” it said.

“The introduction of the new generation of vehicle plates is part of RTA’s efforts to standardise the design of vehicle plates in Dubai in line with the newly designed plates featuring three elements – Dubai brand, number and code.”

Directions for how to change the licence plates can be found on the authority’s website.

The plate can be ordered and paid for online and then picked up from one of the authority’s centres.