Tuesday, August 19, 2014

How to Replace Your License Plate in Israel

Sometimes, the most challenging aspects of aliyah are the small, simple things. Like license plates.
Rena called me from the road to tell me that our rear license plate had fallen off, and she didn't know what to do. I began to envision a long, drawn-out process. Thoughts of the DMV entered my mind, temporary license plates, receiving new ones via registered mail...I thought it would be a long, drawn-out process.
It turns out, that it was nothing like that at all.

I told her to drive home, and began scouring the interwebs for information about replacing our license plate. Only one problem: how do you even say "license plate" in Hebrew? It turns out that it's called a לוחית רישוי. Now you know.
I called the local policeman in Yad Binyamin, who explained that you have to come to the police station and file a report. We went, and he asked us a bunch of questions, and then filled out a form that he gave to us. We took that form to the local "test" location (technically, it's called מכון ישראל) - but everyone knows where their local "test" place is, because it's where you have to take your car to be tested each year, and they yell incomprehensible instructions in broken Hebrew ("Turn right! Left! Brake! Neutral!") while you frantically attempt to comply, hoping that they don't fail your car for something stupid like dry windshield wipers out of spite. Yes, that "Test".
Anyhow, we gave the form to the proprietor (a rather colorful man, for a number of reasons) who, in literally a minute, had his worker stamp out a new license plate, and screw it to the car. We paid 50 shekel and were on our way.

So, if you've lost a license plate (or it was stolen):
1. File a report with the local police
2. Take the report to your local "Test" center
3. Pay 50 shekel
4. Drive away

What seemed threatening and daunting, potentially laden with beurocracy, turned out to be a simple process that took less than an hour.
Hope this helped!

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