Obtaining Drivers Licence in Bali HELP

[rashton]

Hello

The forum details how to obtain your drivers license in Jakarta. Can anyone please tell me where is the best place to go, how much it costs etc in Bali?

My husband was ripped off last year getting his motorcycle license in Bangli, Bali so I'd like to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Where do we go? Which Denpasar Police Station (location)?
How much for one year? Sim A

Many thanks

[atlantis]

Hello

The forum details how to obtain your drivers license in Jakarta. Can anyone please tell me where is the best place to go, how much it costs etc in Bali?

My husband was ripped off last year getting his motorcycle license in Bangli, Bali so I'd like to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Where do we go? Which Denpasar Police Station (location)?
How much for one year? Sim A

Many thanks

Basically, the legal fees are:
75.000 rupiah for a new SIM A/B/C or 60.000 rupiah for a renewal (validity of 1 year for KITAS holder, 5 years for WNI or KITAP holder). You have to add another 50.000 rupiah for the test.
These are legal official fees as per Peraturan Pemerintah nomor 31 tahun 2004. I think I gave a copy of it to be uploaded on www.expat.or.id (check the page about obtaining a driving license).
Now... these are legal fees valid ALL OVER Indonesia in any Kantor Polisi tht re allowed to issue driving license. Advising a "good" kantor polisi is merly impossible. It all depends on the way you ask, the way you argue, the way you bargain...etc. Be polite, but firm and it will greatly reduce the price of the SIM. Go with him directly to the right loket (don't let him deal with them alone if he is not really fluent in Bahasa Indonesia) and do not accept the help of any calo. In a case like a SIM, if your husband has all the requested documents, just refuse to pay more than 125.000 rupiah. Stick to this position or bargain to the closest. If they refuse and kick you out, keep cool and write a letter to the Kepala Seksi Lalu Lintas, with the name of the agent who you deal with and give it in hand or after having it registered. Remenber, the LAW is the LAW. They have to respect it... and they will, each time they feel you may put them in trouble with an official complaint.
Good luck.

[rashton]

I just wonder if you know of anyone who has done this in Bali. Last year my husband went to renew his SIM C Indonesian license and they told him 450,000 for 1 year, he rang our lawyer from the Kontor and she said that no-one holding a KITAS in Bali can get a license for less than that so just pay it. Then I read your article and that is why I am questioning it.

I'll get him to try in Denpasar for his SIM A renewal and see how it goes.

[atlantis]

I just wonder if you know of anyone who has done this in Bali. Last year my husband went to renew his SIM C Indonesian license and they told him 450,000 for 1 year, he rang our lawyer from the Kontor and she said that no-one holding a KITAS in Bali can get a license for less than that so just pay it. Then I read your article and that is why I am questioning it.

I'll get him to try in Denpasar for his SIM A renewal and see how it goes.

I know a bunch of people who did it in Bali or anywhere else in Indonesia for anything between the legal fee and the type of fee that you were quoted. If you try to get the thing done the right way and are convincing enough, you will get the things done properly. Bali is no exception.
Please note, that Police officer, lawyers, agents...etc have no interests in seeing things changing. I do not care what they think/say.
I keep on hearing every other day the kind of things such as "you will never have it done here (replace by any name of any Indonesian city) for this price" concerning KITAS, SIM, IMB, STNK...etc or any other legal documents. Until now, in very rare cases I have been proven wrong.
SIM is one of th easiest document to get in Indonesia... Try hard, and don't let police officers abuse you.
Good luck.

[rashton]

Do you know the best place to go in Denpasar for a renewal?

[tobaman]

Do you know the best place to go in Denpasar for a renewal?

Hi rashton, i live in denpasar...go to Poltabes Denpasar at Jl. Gunung Sanghyang...go directly to the registration counter (at the back side of the office), follow the steps then you will hopefully get it in proper way...heard some info that after the new police big boss in Bali there are quite some good change done by him with the officers...so it's worth to try it now

[rashton]

Okay, thanks tobaman, went to Poltabes Denpasar at Jl. Gunung Sanghyang and it was not exactly simple so I am writing it down for everyone else.

Took 2.5 hours and 15 steps.

Here is how to obtain a SIM A for 1 year in Bali.

Documents required:

Photocopies of the following:
1.KITAS
2.PASSPORT
3.Drivers License from home country
4.Certificate of Police Registration (you get one when you first report you are in the country)
No need to show any originals

Step 1
Go to the Loket II upstairs (outside above the garages) and show your documentation, they will stamp your Certificate of Police Registration to say it is valid.

Step 2
Go to the Doctor - outside, across the carpark and cross over the small road. Pay 25,000 to have your blood pressure checked and your eyes checked and then receive a Doctors Certificate.

Step 3
Go next door to the Doctor, to the Anisa Private Management office and pay 85,000 for a Indonesian Drivers Certificate.

Step 4 Go back to Loket II and show all the documentation which they will give you an application form, just leave it blank at this stage.

Step 5
Go to the Loket I (Loket Bank) window inside the main building and hand over all of your documentation so far and pay 75,000, you will receive a receipt and your documents will have been stapled into a blue folder.

Step 6
Take your folder back upstairs to Loket 11 and they will hand you a driving test in English.

Step 7
Take the test into the room next door and sit in one of the testing seats along with everyone else and do your test. Question 15 is the best. Q15. If you are involved in a accident where there is a fatal what do you do?
a. Leave the scene and change your number plate and your identity so the police cannot find you
b. take the body to your house and hide it
c. report the accident to the police

Step 8
Take your test to the front of the room for the police officers to check

Step 9
Take your folder and test back to Loket II where they will ask you to fill in the application form, it is in Indonesian so they will help you if you need it. Once this is filled in hand it over and they will stamp the test and your payment receipt

Step 10
Go outside of the carpark, past the Doctor and the Anisa office, walk about 500 metres to the Pratek, hand over your folder and sit down and wait to be called.

Step 11
Once called, you will be required to take a driving test in an APV vehicle, you don't leave the police grounds they have a circuit set up, only takes about 5 mins but the gears in the vehicle have had a hard time so be careful not to crunch. Once you have finished your test they will give you your results inside your folder.

Step 12
Take the folder back into the main building again and you will be handed a Lanyard with a SIMC on it to wear in the building (not needed when you are just doing Step 5) Take your folder to Loket Koreksi SIM window, hand it over and sit down and wait to be called.

Step 13
Once your name is called, go to the window, collect your folder and you will be given a number, take the folder and the number directly into the small room to the right where 6 police officers are sitting with computers. This room is were they enter the data to go on your sim so just wait until a police officer calls you over and then stand near the computer so he can confirm everything.

Step 14
Then he will giv eyou back your folder and you take it through an archway into another small room where 3 computers are set up with cameras and fingerprinting. Wait to be called over, then sit on one of the seats, simle, put your left thumb, then your right, have a laugh at your photo and then walk outside and have a seat and wait to be called.

Step 15
An officer from a window call Produksi SIM will call your name, walk to the window and hand over your folder and your lanyard and he will give you your drivers license.

You are now done, get there early, they close at 12noon and this all took about 2.5 hours

Cheers

Oh, and Atlantis, this is one of those rare occasions that you have been proven wrong. Maybe you could put this on the site to help other expats in Bali -

[atlantis]

Oh, and Atlantis, this is one of those rare occasions that you have been proven wrong. Maybe you could put this on the site to help other expats in Bali -

I will definitively propose to Danielle to include your post in www.expat.or.id. i have to say that I had fun reading it and trying to imagine you going back and forth. Good thing that you use the time to took a wealth of infos.

Erm... However, I do not see where I have been proven wrong
SIM is IDR 75.000 for a first issuance (this is indeed what you paid) and IDR 60.000 for a renewal. Police is authorised by law to charge another IDR 50.000 for the test/driver certificate. That's it. Amount paid on top of that are just not official. If they request to pay IDR 85.000 for a certificate, it does not mean that I am wrong... it just mean that they are charging more than what they should. However, for IDR 35.000 overcharge, I would not make a scandal. In my city, the police was "advising" to get a Driver Cetificate from a company... which was belonging to a police officer.

In my post #4 I told you that "If you try to get the thing done the right way and are convincing enough, you will get the things done properly. Bali is no exception". I do not believe that things can not be done properly, the the official cost of it (or at least very close). This is what you have done, and the result is here. The amount paid is quite close to the official fees that police is authorised to levy. You have just paid a "doctor fee" that should not exist and let's say a tip on top of the certificate fee.
I am confused about where you think that I was wrong.
Anyway, thanks for your input.

[Davita]

That step by step procedure explained by Rashton was useful, educational and hilarious....but, where was the step where you need to bend down drop your pants and wait for the pain!!!

Also, where is the step needed for a motor cyclist to determine that one MUST have suicidal tendancies!

Good job they take the blood pressure as early as step 2.

I've been tested many times to qualify to sit at the front end of a Boeing 747 but it was NEVER that amusing.

LOL david