The absentee transfer is the process where court gives MoWT full authority to change motor vehicle names into current owner without consent of the previous owner. In Uganda, the previous motor owner is one whose particulars are shown in the logbook thus indicating that without their approval, such performing a transfer becomes impossible.

In situations where one ends missing after selling his or her or their cars after failed traces, issues like death, rejecting to transfer or even missing with no clue, the Uganda laws authorizes the current vehicle owner (with of ownership including a physical car, agreements, etc to go through the courts of law in order to transfer the said vehicles, m/cycle, etc  into his or her names.

This process which involves swearing an affidavit and issuance of a court order is what is referred to as an absentee transfer. If you are in such a situation, discover how to do such a transfer the legalized / accepted way.

Instructions to get perform an Absentee transfer

• Go to the Commissioner for Oaths, inquire about swearing an Affidavit and do as guided.
• You should then get the sworn in duly embossed Affidavit before the Commissioner for Oaths and present it to the licensing officer.
• The same should be accompanied by the a copy of a Public Notice ran in the daily newspapers declaring their intention to transfer the motor vehicle, and calling on the registered owner to declare their objection if any to the High Court within 2 weeks (should be done before the Oath).
• You should as well take a Court Order instructing the Licensing Officer to transfer the vehicle to their names.
• As the applicant, you should present yourself with their original identification documents to the Licensing Officer for physical identification.
• You should additionally take with you the original registration book with the transfer forms (Old Form 3) that were issued by the original owner in case they are all available.
• You should be willing to avail the motor vehicle to the Licensing Officer for inspection.
• You should present a paid up assessment which they should have picked from the Licensing office (Please note that this will not be available online).

And after all the above, the Licensing officer will then process and issue a new registration book in the names of the applicant (current owner) upon verifying all submitted documents and also having your court order certified.

The time frame it takes may vary depending on a number of reasons including where you did the court order from, submitting of all required documents, paying all required associated fees, etc. Usually, it can be between a month and three months after which your file will be cleared and be given a document to validate your vehicle in case of old logbooks.

This same process works for transferring agriculture tractors, motor cycles, motor vehicles, engineering plants, boats and all registered particulars with the Motor vehicle licensing office at Nakawa MoWT.