> Quick view: RON95 at RM1.99 under BUDI95 requires a valid driving licence matched to your MyKad, so an expired licence now costs you money at every fill-up. JPJ charges RM30 a year for a Class D licence, RM20 for B2/B/C and RM2 for A/A1. Road tax needs active insurance of at least one year before you can renew at all. EV owners are paying road tax again from 1 January 2026, from RM20 a year.

The renewal that used to be optional-ish

For years, an expired driving licence in Malaysia was a risk rather than a cost. You noticed it when you were stopped, or when you tried to rent a car.

That changed with BUDI95. Malaysians aged 16 and above buy RON95 at RM1.99 a litre, and eligibility runs on two conditions: a valid MyKad and a valid driving licence. You never show the licence — the MyKad is tapped or inserted at the pump and the system does the rest — but the licence has to be current for the subsidised price to apply. An expired licence does not get you a summons at the pump. It just quietly bills you the unsubsidised rate.

That is why the Transport Minister opened JPJ offices at weekends when the scheme launched, and why "renew your licence" moved from a chore to a monthly financial decision.

Worth knowing about the quota, because it changed this year: the monthly allowance was cut from 300 litres to 200 litres from 1 April 2026, announced by the Prime Minister on 26 March 2026 as a temporary measure while global crude prices were unstable. The government's stated basis was that average monthly use sits around 100 litres and almost 90% of users draw under 200. E-hailing drivers keep an 800-litre quota. The RM1.99 price is unchanged, and the finance ministry confirmed in late April 2026 that 200 litres stands for now. Eligibility can be checked with an IC number at budimadani.gov.my; the helpline is 1300-88-9595.

What JPJ actually charges for a licence renewal

These are JPJ's own published rates for a Competent Driving Licence (CDL), per year, for Malaysian citizens:

  • Classes A and A1 (small motorcycles): RM2
  • Classes B2, B and C (motorcycles and light commercial): RM20
  • Class D and above (the ordinary car licence): RM30
  • Non-citizens, classes B2, B, C, D, DA, F, G, H and I: RM120

The related transactions on the same fee table: an International Driving Permit is RM150, a copy of a driving licence is RM20, and a licence amendment is RM10 each.

How many years can you renew for? This is where JPJ's own pages and the news do not agree, and it is worth knowing both. JPJ's CDL renewal service page states that "the renewal period allowed is 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years only". Separately, then Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced in May 2023 that renewals could run to ten years, with applications opening 8 May 2023, priced at RM270 — a "buy nine, get one" structure that works out to a 10% saving, available to Malaysians and not to foreigners or long-term pass holders. If the longer option matters to you, check what your channel actually offers at the point of renewal rather than assuming.

Eligibility is short: you must not be blacklisted. The documents JPJ lists for a counter renewal are the original MyKad or passport, the original or a copy of the driving licence, and one colour photo on a white background at 25mm x 32mm — plus the representative's own identification if somebody else is doing it for you.

Where you can renew

MyJPJ (app). Since 10 February 2023, private vehicle owners have been able to present the digital road tax (e-LKM) and digital driving licence (e-LMM) through the JPJ Public Portal or the MyJPJ app. Since 1 February 2024, licence renewal itself can be done in the app. It is the cheapest route because there is no intermediary margin.

MySIKAP portal. JPJ's own web portal, and the other official place the e-LKM lives.

JPJ counters, UTC, 1JPJ counters, eKhidmat kiosks and Pos Malaysia. All listed by JPJ as CDL renewal channels. Pos Malaysia's branch network is the practical fallback in towns without a JPJ office nearby, and the route to take if your licence needs a photo or an amendment rather than a straight renewal.

MyEG. The long-standing private channel. Its own help pages list what you are charged for a CDL renewal: the CDL renewal fee, a CDL adjustment amount where applicable, an e-service charge, and 8% SST on that service charge. For road tax, MyEG's draw is delivery rather than price — the government fee is the same wherever you pay it, and what you are buying is not queuing.

Road tax: the three things to sort before you start

Insurance first. Active motor insurance or takaful covering at least one year is a precondition. Road tax cannot be issued without it. This is the step that catches people who leave renewal to the last week.

Clear your blacklist. A vehicle blacklisted by JPJ or PDRM cannot be renewed. Outstanding summonses are the usual cause, and finding out at the counter is the expensive way to learn.

Inspection where required. Certain vehicles — commercial vehicles, and older vehicles — need a PUSPAKOM or PPKM inspection before renewal.

Road tax itself, officially the Motor Vehicle Licence (LKM), is calculated from engine capacity in cc (or motor power in kW for an EV), whether the body is saloon or non-saloon, whether the vehicle is privately or company registered, and the region where it is kept. Rates in Sabah and Sarawak are materially lower than in Peninsular Malaysia, which is a genuine consideration for anyone moving a vehicle across. Because the calculation is progressive within each band, use JPJ's own rate schedule for your exact capacity rather than a rounded figure from a forum.

What road tax actually costs: the JPJ rate table

JPJ publishes the whole calculation in one document — the *Garis Panduan Pengiraan Kadar Lesen Kenderaan Motor (LKM)*, the post-Budget-2009 amendment still in force. Three things decide your figure before engine capacity does: saloon or non-saloon, individual or company registered, and Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah/Sarawak. Body type is the one people get wrong. It is printed on your vehicle registration certificate, and an SUV, MPV, van or pickup registered as non-saloon sits on a different, higher table than a sedan or hatchback with the same engine.

Peninsular Malaysia, private saloon, individual owner (JPJ use code AB). Below 1,600cc it is a flat annual figure:

  • 1,000cc and below — RM20
  • 1,001–1,200cc — RM55
  • 1,201–1,400cc — RM70
  • 1,401–1,600cc — RM90

Above 1,600cc it becomes a base rate plus a progressive charge on every cc above the band floor: RM200 + RM0.40 per cc over 1,600 for 1,601–1,800cc; RM280 + RM0.50 per cc over 1,800 for 1,801–2,000cc; RM380 + RM1.00 per cc over 2,000 for 2,001–2,500cc; RM880 + RM2.50 per cc over 2,500 for 2,501–3,000cc; and RM2,130 + RM4.50 per cc over 3,000 above that.

Worked, so the arithmetic is visible:

  • A 1,329cc saloon — a 1.3 hatchback — pays RM70. Flat band, nothing progressive.
  • A 1,498cc saloon, the common 1.5, pays RM90.
  • A 1,998cc saloon, a 2.0, pays RM280 + (RM0.50 × 198) = RM379.
  • A 2,494cc saloon, a 2.5, pays RM380 + (RM1.00 × 494) = RM874.
  • A 2,997cc saloon, a 3.0, pays RM880 + (RM2.50 × 497) = RM2,122.50.

The non-saloon step-up is real. A private non-saloon in the same 1,401–1,600cc band pays RM120 rather than RM90, and RM100 rather than RM70 at 1,201–1,400cc. Above 1,600cc it runs on its own base rates — RM300, RM360, RM440, RM840 and RM1,640 — with gentler progressive increments than the saloon table, which is why the gap narrows on large engines and is widest on small ones.

Company registration roughly doubles it. That same 1,998cc saloon registered to a company in the Peninsular pays RM560 + (RM1.00 × 198) = RM758, against RM379 in an individual's name. If a car is in a company name for tax reasons, this is part of the cost of that decision.

Sabah and Sarawak are cheaper, and not by a little. Both states run an identical schedule, and it makes no distinction between individual and company owners for saloons: RM44 at 1,001–1,200cc, RM56 at 1,201–1,400cc, RM72 at 1,401–1,600cc, then RM224 + RM0.25 per cc over 1,800 in the 1,801–2,000cc band. The 1,998cc saloon that costs RM379 in Kuala Lumpur costs RM273.50 in Kota Kinabalu or Kuching — RM105.50 a year less for the same car. The rate follows where the vehicle is registered as kept, not where you happen to be driving it.

EV owners: 2026 is the first year you pay

The road-tax holiday for electric vehicles ran from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025. From 1 January 2026, the Ministry of Transport's replacement structure applies — announced in June 2024, and based on total motor power output in kilowatts rather than engine displacement.

It starts at RM20 a year for vehicles up to 50 kW and rises in bands, with the highest-output models sold here landing around RM4,890 a year and a ceiling of RM20,000 for outputs no consumer vehicle reaches. Most mainstream EVs on Malaysian roads sit far below that, and well under what a petrol car of similar performance would pay.

If you bought an EV during the exemption years, this is the first renewal where the figure will not be zero. Budget for it before the reminder arrives.

A sensible renewal routine

  1. Check your licence expiry today, not when the reminder comes. If it has lapsed, you have been paying unsubsidised RON95 in the meantime.
  2. Check your BUDI95 eligibility at budimadani.gov.my with your IC number. If it fails and your licence is valid, look for a MyKad-to-licence data mismatch — old police, armed forces or pre-MyKad numbers are the known culprits.
  3. Renew the insurance before the road tax, always in that order.
  4. Clear any summonses before you attempt the renewal.
  5. Use MyJPJ for the straightforward cases and a counter or Pos Malaysia when you need a photo, an amendment or a class change.
  6. Decide the renewal length deliberately. At RM30 a year for a Class D licence, ten years costs RM270 where it is offered — and removes the expiry from your BUDI95 exposure for a decade.

Related reads

This is a factual explainer, not employment, legal or financial advice. Fees, quotas and eligibility rules change: JPJ publishes its own fee tables and service conditions at jpj.gov.my, and BUDI95 eligibility and quota are published at budimadani.gov.my. All figures above were read from those sources and from official announcements on 20 August 2026; the LKM rate schedule in this article was read from JPJ's own *Garis Panduan Pengiraan Kadar Lesen Kenderaan Motor (LKM)* (post-Budget 2009 amendment) on 28 August 2026.

*Cover image: Stress 043, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons*