Meaning to Life | Exotic Caribbean

Archive for the ‘Dominican Driving’ Category

Monday, June 28, 2004

It is alluded that there are different ways of getting a driving license in this country, but this week we discovered that the “correct” way requires you to make repeated visits and engage in repeated waiting in different lines at the principal driving test center found on Avenida Tiradentes at the offices of Dirección General de Tránsito Terrestre (Ministry of Road Traffic) in Santo Domingo.

We ventured out of Boca Chica and off to the capital on Wednesday to help a good friend of Playa Vista get through the Dominican driving license process. We have to be honest and say that he had already been considerably helped along the way by other friends by the time we got involved, but he had hit a small language barrier in the form of the examination on the Highway Code which is presented solely in Spanish. We arrived at about 10 am with a view to immediately taking the 45 minute test but were told that the system, a system that our friend had used on two previous occasions, had changed, and that we should have been present in line at 8 am in order to get one of the 250 allotted numbers. So… we returned on the Friday morning and took our place near the front of the line, #21 to be precise. We then proceeded to the next line which did not move for at least an hour and a half. Finally #21 was called and we leapt towards the door only to be told that a special permission would be needed for the accompanying translator because… the system had changed! One of our German speaking regulars had previously tried to help our friend out with the translation, but the technicality of the questions, and the fact that he was trying to help an English speaking guy – in other words two languages removed from his own native language – had already resulted in two failed exams. Nevertheless… another 20 minute wait and with the sub-director of the institution’s signature on the newly acquired special permit for the translator we were now really on our way.

The test was taken and, thankfully, passed… and then we waited some more in our final line of the day for the permit to be handed out.

In this three hour sojourn in the driving test center we learned quite a bit about this very evidently out-of-synch official driving license process. Firstly you have to line up to pay the tax – at a branch of the national bank Banco Reservas located inside the building – in a line that at the time looked like the most formidable of all the lines. Our friend had, by the way, already astutely worked out that, as a tempting alternative, one could actually bypass this line by paying the tax at ones own convenience at any Banco Reservas branch before arriving at the driving test centre. Next you line up for the eye test and when that is over you have to line up one more time to give a blood sample to determine your blood type!

After that you can pass to the line we were in that day for the Highway Code test. Our friend was under the impression that all was finished, after this his fifth visit, so he was naturally disappointed to learn that he would have to return after 45 days in order to have his actual driving approved and undergo an hour and a half lecture thrown in for good measure even though he is a fully validated Massachusetts driving license holder… now how about that!.

We were told though, by somebody in the Ministry that you can get a letter from your consulate verifying your own country’s license which helps to shorten or even eliminate the line-waiting torture. Having learned this, our American friend need not have been crestfallen about all this unnecessary effort he might have taken, because we were also told, by the same source, that the USA embassy is the only one in this country who is not prepared to offer such helpful letters of verification.

Meanwhile seven years later:
The situation does not seem to have changed too much and is of course straightforward!

Getting a Driver’s License in the Dominican Republic

Getting your license in the Dominican Republic is a straightforward process. Bring your cedula and a copy of the document with you to La Direccion General de Transito Terreste (DGTT), which is the equivalent of the department of motor vehicles. Make sure you have studied the driver’s manual before you take your driving exam. Next, you must pay taxes in order to receive your license:

Driver’s License: RD$455
Exam: RD$200
Medical Exam RD$40
Classification Fee: RD$75
Taxes: RD$20
Cost of Forms and Services: RD$85

Total: RD$855

At DGTT go to window # 1 and present your cedula and one copy, and pay for the driver’s license. Next, go to window #2 and present your cedula, along with the receipt of payment of taxes, and the receipt of payment for the driver’s license. Thirdly, go to window # 5 and present your cedula with the previous receipts, so that the information can be checked to make sure it’s accurate.

After that, present all previous documents to window # 6, in order to take the written exam.

If you pass the written exam you’ll be asked to take a road test. You have to wait 45 days before you can take a road test. Once you pass the road test, you can then obtain a Dominican drivers license.