CVR readies for mass vehicle de-registration

Owners of vehicles that have remained unlicenced for more than two years must renew
their licences or risk deregistration of their cars once the deregistration notice has been
gazetted.

Once a vehicle is de-registered, it legally becomes valueless as the owner cannot sell it.
Authorities estimate that up to 800 000 vehicles are not up to date with licencing and
those in arrears for two or more years will now be targeted for removal from the list of
legally licenced vehicles.

To re-register, the owner has to pay outstanding arrears and penalties, including
insurance, and get clearance from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority that the vehicle was
legally imported into the country.

Further, the car has to be cleared by the Theft Squad and the Vehicle Inspection
Department before it can be driven on the country’s roads.

In a statement yesterday, the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) said the
exercise would give Government an updated record of licenced vehicles.

Zinara said the move was in line with provisions of the Vehicle Registration and
Licencing Act which empowers the registrar to cancel licences for vehicles with
outstanding fees exceeding two years.

“The Central Vehicle Registry and Zimbabwe National Roads Administration issued a
joint statement and would like to inform the motoring public that all vehicles that have
not been licenced for a period of two years or more will be automatically de-registered
from the Central Vehicle Registry database,” Zinara said.

“To avoid de-registration of your vehicles, we appeal to our valued motoring public to
comply by ensuring that their vehicles are properly licenced.”

According to Zinara, once a vehicle has been de-registered, its re-registration process
includes, clearance of outstanding vehicle licencing arrears, police clearance and a
certificate of road worthiness from the Vehicle Inspectorate Department.

In 2022 the number of registered vehicles in Zimbabwe stood at 1,5 million, with the
largest concentration in Harare, although there has been a significant mismatch between
the number of vehicles and those paying licence fees.

Many of the unlicenced vehicles have long been scrapped or are non-runners rusting in
backyards, but their registration has never been cancelled.-The Herald