Cyprus drives on the left, a leftover from British rule, so the first surprise for most European arrivals is the side of the road rather than the paperwork. If you are visiting, your own national licence is fine for the length of your stay. If you are moving here, you keep driving on your home licence for a while, then swap it for a Cyprus one using form TOM 7D at the Road Transport Department. Speed limits are posted in kilometres per hour, the drink-drive limit is 0.05%, and road tax is paid online once a year. Get those four things straight and the rest is ordinary.
Which licence you can use, and when you must exchange it
A tourist or short-term visitor drives on a valid licence from home. There is no need for an international permit if your licence is in the Latin alphabet, which covers UK and EU documents.
Once you become resident, the position changes. Cyprus expects residents to hold a Cyprus licence, and you exchange your foreign one rather than sit a fresh test, provided it came from an EU country or from a country the Road Transport Department treats as equivalent. The UK is on that recognised list, so a UK photocard is exchanged without a driving or theory test. EU licence holders can generally keep driving on their existing licence until it expires, then renew it locally, but many exchange sooner to avoid carrying a document that Cypriot officials have to puzzle over at the roadside.
The exchange itself is a counter job at any District Office of the Road Transport Department or a Citizen Service Centre. The application is form TOM 7D. According to the Road Transport Department, you bring a recent passport-style photo (45 x 35 mm), your identity card or Alien Registration Certificate with a photocopy, your passport with a photocopy of the first page, and your foreign licence with a photocopy of every page. Anything not in Greek or English needs an official translation. Budget a modest fee, in the region of €40, and confirm the current figure with the department before you go. If your documents are in order the appointment is short.
Do not let a foreign licence quietly lapse while you delay. Driving on an expired licence, or on a foreign one after you were meant to exchange it, can leave you uninsured in a crash, which is where a road-traffic matter turns into a litigation problem rather than an administrative one.
Road tax: paid once a year, online only
Cyprus road tax, the annual circulation licence, is calculated from your engine or your emissions and paid through the Road Transport Department portal. There is no paper disc to queue for.
How the figure is worked out depends on when the car was first registered. Vehicles registered before 2014 are taxed on engine capacity in cubic centimetres. Vehicles registered from 1 January 2014 onward are taxed on CO2 emissions on a rising scale: 0.50 cent per gram up to 120 g/km, then higher rates per gram as emissions climb through the 150 and 180 g/km thresholds. Fully electric cars are exempt. Whatever the car, the annual charge is capped at €1,500, and the smallest, cleanest vehicles pay as little as €10.
You pay online and can choose to cover three, six, nine or twelve months. To renew you need valid insurance and a current MOT (in Cyprus the roadworthiness test is still called the MOT). Miss the deadline and a fixed penalty plus a percentage surcharge is added, so it is cheaper to pay on time than to gamble on an extension. The government has pushed the deadline back in past years when its own website buckled under the last-minute rush, but that is not something to rely on.
The road rules that catch people out
None of the traffic rules are exotic. The trouble is that arrivals assume the rules from home apply.
- Speed limits are metric: 50 km/h in towns, 80 km/h on the open road, and 100 km/h on the motorway, with a 65 km/h minimum in the fast lanes. Pedestrian zones drop to 30 km/h. Cameras are common and fines rise sharply once you are more than 20 km/h over.
- The drink-drive limit is 0.05% blood alcohol (0.5 mg/ml) for experienced drivers. Novice drivers in their first three years and professional drivers face a much stricter 0.02%. Police run roadside breath tests, and the penalties climb with the reading.
- Seat belts are compulsory in front and back, and children must use an appropriate restraint.
- Handheld phones are banned. You may only use a phone through a hands-free system, and being caught holding one carries a fine and a penalty point.
Cyprus runs a penalty-point system alongside cash fines, and points accumulate towards a suspension, so the mobile-phone ticket that feels trivial is not just about the money.
Renting a car as a visitor
Hire cars wear red number plates that start with a Z, which locals read as a signal to give tourists room, and sometimes a wide berth. To rent you generally need to have held your licence for a set period, often at least a year, and younger drivers can face a surcharge or a higher minimum age. Your own licence is enough. Check that the rental price includes collision damage cover and read what the excess actually is before you sign, because the cheapest online rate is rarely the one you end up paying after the desk adds waivers.
Buying, importing and registering a car
If you are relocating rather than holidaying, moving a car onto Cyprus plates is its own process, involving customs clearance, an emissions and roadworthiness check, and registration with the Road Transport Department. People bringing a vehicle from the UK also have to reckon with it being left-hand drive on a left-hand-driving island, which is legal but awkward. This sits alongside the wider admin of settling in, which we cover in moving to Cyprus from the UK. For most newcomers it is simpler to buy locally, where the car already carries Cyprus plates, a valid MOT and a clean tax record you can check before you hand over any money.
The everyday reality of driving here is undramatic. Left side, kilometres, belts on, phone down, tax paid online, licence swapped within the first months of residency. Where it goes wrong is usually insurance: a lapsed licence or an unexchanged foreign one can void your cover exactly when you need it.
Been in a road accident in Cyprus, or facing an insurance or licensing dispute? Browse the directory for a litigation lawyer, or start with a firm in Limassol or Paphos who handles road-traffic claims for foreign residents.