We fill in the form. You stay in control of everything else.
TrafficForms is an independent South African service — not affiliated with NaTIS, the RTMC or any government department.
The RLV is the form used to register and license a motor vehicle.
If you've just bought a car, this is your step: the buyer applies for registration on the RLV within 21 days of the purchase, and the application goes in with the vehicle's current registration certificate.
TrafficForms fills the RLV in for you from your own documents.
Takes a few minutes · Your documents stay yours · Deleted after processing
RLV stands for Application for Registration and Licensing of Motor Vehicle. The form covers two distinct transactions, and you indicate which applies: registration of a motor vehicle by the title holder, and licensing of a motor vehicle by the owner.
Which one you're doing determines which parts of the form you complete.
The RLV separates two roles, and they aren't always the same person.
The title holder is who holds title to the vehicle — often a bank, if the car is financed, or a cash buyer if it isn't.
The owner is who has the vehicle registered in their name and uses it.
If your car is on finance, the bank may be the title holder while you're the owner. The form makes provision for both, and identification for each is needed — including for a proxy or representative where an organisation is involved.
Upload the identification and the vehicle's registration papers. TrafficForms reads them and completes the RLV — the title holder's and owner's particulars, and the vehicle details, placed in the correct sections of the official form.
Where a company is involved, it handles the proxy and representative details too — which is where this form gets genuinely fiddly by hand.
You review it, adjust anything, preview it, and download it ready to print and sign.
Your source documents are deleted the moment they're read. Nothing is stored, and nothing is submitted on your behalf.
If you've bought a vehicle, the RLV is the second half of a two-form process:
The seller files the NCO — notifying the register that the car was sold — within 21 days.
You, the buyer, file the RLV — registering the vehicle in your name — within 21 days, with the registration certificate the seller hands you.
Both need to happen. Neither one completes the transfer alone.
The title holder holds title to the vehicle — often a bank if it's financed. The owner is who it's registered to. They can be the same person, or not.
The buyer applies for registration on the RLV within 21 days of the purchase.
Yes — the application is accompanied by the current registration certificate, which the seller hands over.
Yes. The form provides for an organisation as title holder and/or owner, with identification for the proxy or representative.
Yes — if you've bought a vehicle, the RLV is what registers it in your name. It's often searched for as a "car ownership transfer form" or "vehicle registration transfer". The seller's half of the same transfer is a separate form, the NCO.
Selling instead? Here's the seller's side. See the NCO guide.
Renewing the licence disc once it's registered? See the ALV guide.
Want the whole seller + buyer process in one place? See the full walkthrough guide.
Takes a few minutes · Your documents stay yours · Deleted after processing