Wrapping a car has become routine: a new colour in a day, with no stripping and no spraying. But the General Traffic Department’s page on changing a vehicle’s specifications sets one condition that changes the arithmetic: the paint must be permanent, and vinyl is not a substitute for it.
The condition as the department publishes it
The page refers to article 47 of the traffic law, quoting it that a vehicle body must be “coated in permanent paint”, provided it does not resemble the colour and design of government vehicles — police, army, national guard, fire service, ambulance and others — and that “the use of adhesive sheets or non-permanent materials in place of paint is prohibited”.
That last clause is where the practical dispute sits. It prohibits vinyl in place of paint, that is as a means of changing the vehicle’s colour. It does not speak in its text about film over sound paint that does not change the registered colour. The page does not separate the two cases, and anyone planning a full wrap should ask the traffic department before paying rather than after.
Notifying is not optional
The page rests on article 10 of the traffic law and article 16 of its executive regulations: the General Traffic Department must be notified of any material change to the vehicle that results in a change to its licence details. Colour is one of the licence details.
So the rule is not “change the colour and report it if you are stopped” — the change itself requires the details to be amended. A book saying black and a car that has become grey are a standing contradiction at every checkpoint.
The document you need
The second item on the page is explicit: bring vehicle licensing papers from the company insuring the vehicle, setting out the change. Which means the insurer learns of the new colour before the traffic department does.
That explains why some owners run into trouble after an accident following a wrap: the description on the policy does not match the vehicle on the road.
And the shade banned whatever you do
Whatever the method of change, the colour and design may not resemble those of the government bodies listed. That covers near shades and not only exact matches, because the test in the text is resemblance.
Before you book the shop
Order it like this: ask traffic about your specific case, then notify the insurer and get the papers setting out the change, then have the work done, then amend the licence details. Any other order means paying twice.
Source: the General Traffic Department, Ministry of Interior, page on procedures for changing vehicle specifications.
Photo: Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah Road, May 2017. By EnGxBaDeR, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Kuwait One, once a week.
The most useful stories we published this week, in your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
