Vehicle POA or RTA POA - which one do you need?
If your transaction is a vehicle ownership change at RTA in Dubai, read the RTA page: RTA publishes the scope your representative’s power of attorney must contain, and that is a fact worth having before anything is drafted. Vehicle POA is the broader category for vehicle authority generally, including transactions outside Dubai where the authority is not RTA and publishes its own requirements.
The sentence that separates them
For a vehicle ownership change, RTA states that the legal representative "must have a power of attorney stipulating the ‘sale and disposal of vehicles’", and that the representative must attend in person.
That is unusually specific, and it is the whole reason the RTA page exists separately. A perfectly valid vehicle authority that never contains that scope can be refused at the counter - not because anything is wrong with the document, but because the counter is doing exactly what its own published rules say.
What else RTA asks for
The published list for an ownership change goes well beyond the power of attorney, and most of it is the customer’s to arrange:
- A valid Emirates ID for buyer and seller.
- Electronic insurance and an electronic technical inspection.
- An electronic mortgage release, if the vehicle is mortgaged.
- A Gulf Specifications compliance document where applicable.
- A MOFA no-objection certificate for consulate plates.
- RTA’s own fees - AED 350 for a light vehicle, AED 200 for a motorcycle, AED 800 to AED 1,000 for a heavy vehicle over 12 tonnes, plus AED 35 to AED 50 for plates, AED 50 for the sale and purchase agreement and AED 20 knowledge and innovation. Those are paid to RTA and are separate from our professional fee.
Why the broader page still exists
RTA is Dubai. Vehicle transactions elsewhere in the UAE go through other authorities, and we have not read published wording requirements from them - so we do not claim RTA’s sentence applies to them. Extending one authority’s published requirement across a country is exactly the kind of confident generalisation that makes a page feel authoritative and be wrong.
The Vehicle POA page is therefore the right starting point when the transaction is not an RTA one, or when the question is still what authority to grant rather than where to take it.
Which page is yours
- Selling, transferring or registering a vehicle at RTA in Dubai, with someone acting for you: the RTA page.
- A vehicle matter in another emirate: Vehicle POA, and check that authority’s own published requirements.
- Still deciding what your representative should be able to do: Vehicle POA, and the general versus special guide if the question is broader than vehicles.
Questions
What exactly does RTA require the document to say?
RTA states the legal representative "must have a power of attorney stipulating the ‘sale and disposal of vehicles’". It also states the representative must be present in person.
Does that wording apply outside Dubai?
We have not read a published requirement from another emirate’s transport authority, so we do not say that it does. Check the authority that will receive your document.
Can a general power of attorney be used at RTA instead?
RTA names the scope it expects. A broad document that does not contain it may not be enough - which is the point made at more length in our general versus special guide.
What this page does not do
- This page quotes one authority, RTA, for one transaction. It is not a statement of what other UAE transport authorities require.
- Authority requirements and fees change. The figures here are dated in our source registry, and RTA’s own page is the version that counts.
- The Deedbox is not a law firm and not a notary.