Anyone who has sold their car to a buyer outside Kuwait, or decided to take it with them when leaving for good, cannot simply sell it and hand it over. The licence has to be cancelled, the plates surrendered, and then the owner is given a very short window to leave with it.
Forty-eight hours
That is the number that governs everything. The General Traffic Department’s page states that the owner is granted an export certificate valid 48 hours for departure, and that the plates are returned to the department by the border centres.
So the order is the reverse of what many people assume: you do not finish the paperwork and then plan the trip at leisure. You finish the paperwork on the day you have set to leave. Anyone who completes the documents and then delays two days has fallen outside the window.
The steps as published
- An insurance policy valid for at least a month.
- Attending technical inspection in the capital, export section.
- The owner attending in person or through an agent.
- Surrendering the plates and the book at the vehicles section after cancellation on the system, and receiving export plates.
- Issue of the export certificate, valid forty-eight hours.
- Issue of a clearance certificate confirming no traffic fines are recorded against the owner.
The fee: two dinars to cancel the licence of any type of vehicle.
The two items that stop the transaction
Insurance valid at least a month. Which means anyone whose policy is close to expiry has to renew it before starting the export process — spending on cover they will not use in Kuwait. Work that out before you set a travel date.
Clearance from fines. Any recorded traffic fine means the certificate is not issued. Settle what you owe before you go, not while standing at the counter.
And note the plate difference
The ordinary plate is withdrawn and cancelled on the system, and an export plate is issued in its place to drive to the border, where you hand it to the border centre, which returns it to traffic. The plate is not yours, and it does not leave with you.
Source: the General Traffic Department, Ministry of Interior, page on cancelling a vehicle licence for export.
Photo: Jasem Mohammed Al-Kharafi Road in Jahra. By Ahmad Salem, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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