Renewing car registration

Ah, have had my driving moaning quota satisfied for today so won't contribute any more but will if the new thread has not been deleted in let's say ... 2 days by which stage temperament will be running quite high, LOL :cool:!

you have 1 month till your insurance is expired. after that it's something like 50-60 fine per week.

GoodMorning, trust me I've have been going around the house head in the clouds as to the ideal vehicle to use for a rampage, compact roller will be good too - definitely, for the parking at City Centre. As you know they have started charging and there were a few comments re : "How parking is charged for in other countries, etc." I avoid City Centre like a plague on weekends but in-house chef (AKA DH) needed a specific item and Lakeland was visited on a Friday a few weeks ago ... yeeeaaaak. On the way out, there was this massive queue that had built up leading to one of the exits. Of course, other drivers were crossing that queue right, left and centre to find parking. We were in sight of the exit with 2 cubicles. One of the ladies decided to go off (on her break / for prayer may be) and therefore all those who were queuing at hers, had to merge into ours. Chorus of horns and we eventually reached the second place in the queue after some 20 minutes (no exageration) since we drove from our parking slot. The next thing, that 4x4 was on our right as a flash pushing his way in. I looked at him quite startled as it was so fast and it was a very young local. He was trying not to make eye contact. By that stage, in-house chef was pretty ... off and considering we were in a 4x4 too, decided that this is not going to happen. Eventually, the clever clog could not avoid making eye contact any longer, looked at us, grinned and mouthed :"Please." We laughed and let him through having had the satisfaction of making him grovel. At one of the entrances, it appears that somebody must have got quite crossed and simply flattened one of the lit bollards in the middle of the two lanes before the entrance barriers, with all wirings hanging out. Yes, other countries do charge for parking but dare I say in most cases it is a bit more organised and with fewer suicidal drivers - please note that I am not targetting one particular nationality as I believe that the major problem with driving in Qatar is because of the number of different nationalities among the residents and such a varied driving style. In the end, even if when you came you were a careful, considerate and polite driver, you have to breach some rules in order to survive. The roundabouts still give me goose pimples! How did we move from car registration to driving ... LOL!

kimmc2 - not yet a while but within 4/5 months. Back to UK! Have started a few lists :"To sell," "To Pack," "To Give Away," "Not Bothered" ... and one "To Do Before Leaving Qatar." At the top of the last list is "Borrow JCB from a building site by generously tipping hardworking labourers - go on a rampage around Doha, 1st choice Salwa Road, followed closely by City Centre. ;) I suppose one can be allowed to dream ... sigh!

Great timing, Gina ;)! All done by DH this morning, didn't know that it did not necessarily have to be him but knowing him, he would still have preferred to do it himself and have any agro rather than me. Last one for both cars before the farewell to Qatar!

It is 30 days grace. Also just FYI (although you probably don't want to let on to your DH Baffled ;) ) - the person who the car is registered under doesn't actually have to take the car in themselves. Anyone can take it in.

kimmc2, just to let you know that the inspection in Al Khor is open on Saturdays as from 7am. More practical for DH (car is in his name) as taking time off work during the week is just about impossible. In case you have already renewed, please ignore.

1 month :) o, and even after that 1 month it's something like 5dhs fine per day in DXB Your insurance is more important :D

kimmc2, Dubai Refugee is correct regarding insurance. My registration expired a couple of days ago and due to various other commitments, it is the first time that we have not been able to renew prior to that. So, I have renewed the insurance so that there was no gap of driving the car without insurance and the registration will be renewed within the next couple of weeks. So you can drive around with an expired registration but unwise to do so with an expired insurance policy.

I don't know the exact grace period, but this year I renewed my car registration 20 days after it had expired, and no one gave me any grief. However, I would worry more about the insurance -- in Dubai, where I perviously lived, insurance companies normally gave a 13 month policy, effectively giving you a grace period of one month to renew -- but in Qatar, insurance policies are for 12 months only (at least, that has been my experience with two different insurance companies). So if you are driving around with expired registration, you are also driving around uninsured. If there is an accident, that could create far bigger problems for you than any fine for delayed registraton.

I think it is 30 days. You could check on the MOI website - it may be on there?