# Power of Attorney for Buying a Car in Dubai Source: https://poaindubai.ae/power-of-attorney-to-buy-a-car-dubai/ Summary: A power of attorney for buying a car in Dubai must say whose name the vehicle ends up in. We draft the special agency, translate it and attend. Language: en-AE --- Vehicle power of attorney # Power of Attorney for Buying a Car in Dubai A power of attorney for buying a car has to answer a question selling never raises: whose name the car ends up in. It also has to say whose money pays for it. [Get started](/contact/) [Call us](tel:+971555640358) - Special agency, not general - Buyer named in writing - Arabic drafting and translation ![Keys handed to the buyer after a purchase completed through an appointed agent] ## The short answer A power of attorney for buying a car is a special agency, not a general one. Article 870 requires it to specify the type of act and the dispositions it entails, which here means the purchase and the name the vehicle ends up in. Type of deed Special agency, not a general POA Must specify The purchase and the registered name Signed before A notary public ## What a power of attorney for buying a car does A power of attorney for buying a car lets someone else complete a purchase you cannot attend in person. The idea is simple and the drafting is not, because the deed becomes the only record of what the agent was allowed to do. It has to state the act, the vehicle it covers, and the name the registration is to be made in. Most people ask for a general power of attorney, because the name sounds broader. Article 871 of the Civil Transactions Law says the opposite. A deed expressed in general terms, without specifying what is intended, grants only the power to perform acts of management. A purchase is not an act of management, so the general deed is the one form of words that cannot do this job. ![Agent discussing a purchase on the buyer's behalf] ## Whose name does the car end up in An agent buying for you and an agent buying in their own name are two different deeds. Article 870 makes you choose one and write it down. Structure one ### Bought in your name The agent signs, pays and completes on your behalf, and the vehicle is registered to you. The deed names you as the person the purchase is made for. Structure two ### Bought in the agent’s name The agent acquires in their own name, then transfers the vehicle to you afterwards. That is a second disposition, and Article 870 wants it written, not implied. ## What the wording has to settle Article 870 asks for the type of act and the dispositions it entails. In a purchase that comes down to six decisions, and each one has to be visible in the deed. - The act itself, written as the purchase of a vehicle rather than as authority to act for you. - The name the vehicle is to be registered in, stated once and open to one reading only. - Whether the agent may pay, and from whose funds, so that is not left to be argued afterwards. - Whether the agent may sign the transfer and registration paperwork the purchase produces. - Whether the agent may appoint a sub-agent, since Article 903 ends every sub-agency when you revoke the main one. - The term you want the agency to run for, because Article 897 extinguishes it on the term specified in the deed. ## How we handle it We draft, translate, check and attend. The ratification is done by a notary public, in front of whom the deed is signed. 1 ### Settle the two names We start with the question the deed exists to answer. Who is buying, and whose name the vehicle is registered in when the purchase is done. Everything else in the wording follows from that pair, so we settle it with you before a line is drafted. 2 ### Draft the special agency We write the act and the dispositions in the terms Article 870 uses, and nothing beyond what you asked for. The deed is drawn up in Arabic, with an English version alongside it, so you can read what you are about to sign. 3 ### Translate and check Where a document is in another language, a legal translator registered with the Ministry of Justice prepares the Arabic. We then check the identity details, the names and the vehicle details against the papers you gave us, because one spelling out of place is enough to hold the file up. 4 ### Attend the ratification The deed is ratified before a notary public, who verifies identity and reads the content out to the parties. We prepare the file, attend with you and answer the notary’s questions. ## The article this page rests on Every wording point on this page rests on one provision. Article 870 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, the Civil Transactions Law, which replaced the 1985 Civil Code. It requires a special agency for anything beyond management and preservation, and it requires that agency to specify the type of act and the dispositions it entails. Pages that still cite Article 955 are citing the repealed 1985 law. The agency provisions now sit at Articles 866 to 903. ### Article 870(1), Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 Any act that is not an act of management and preservation requires a special agency specifying the type of act and the dispositions it entails, particularly in donations, sale, settlement, mortgage, acknowledgment, arbitration, administering and accepting an oath, and pleading before the court. ## What we need from you The notary verifies identity from an ID card, passport or other official document issued by the State. This is what we ask for before drafting. ### From you, the buyer The principal in the deed - Emirates ID, or a passport if you are not resident - Your full name exactly as it appears on that document - The name you want the vehicle registered in - Any limit you want set on price or payment ### From your agent The person who signs for you - Emirates ID number, or a copy of the ID card - A passport copy if the agent is not resident - Full name spelled as it appears on that document - Contact details, so the appointment can be arranged ### About the purchase So the deed is not open ended - What is being bought, described as precisely as you can - Details of the vehicle where one has already been chosen - Whether the agent may pay, and from which funds - The term you want the agency to run for ## Where deeds go wrong Most wording that causes trouble fails for the same few reasons. Here is what we see go wrong, and what we check before a deed goes to the notary. - General wording with no act named, which Article 871 limits to acts of management. - Silence on whose name the vehicle is registered in, leaving one deed with two readings. - A name spelled one way on the identity document and another way in the deed. - The act and the dispositions are written out, in the terms Article 870 uses. - The purchase and the registration name agree with each other and with your ID. - The Arabic and the translation say the same thing, page for page. ## Related pages Buying is one deed among several. These pages cover the others, and the questions that sit around all of them. [Vehicle power of attorney](/vehicle-power-of-attorney-dubai/) [Selling a car](/power-of-attorney-to-sell-a-car-dubai/) [Registration and renewal](/car-registration-power-of-attorney/) [A financed or leased car](/leased-vehicle-power-of-attorney/) [Signing from outside the UAE](/power-of-attorney-from-outside-uae/) [Documents required](/power-of-attorney-documents-required/) ## Frequently asked questions The questions we are asked most often on this one. **Can I use a general power of attorney to buy a car?** Not on its own. Article 871 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 says a deed expressed in general terms, without specifying what is intended, grants only acts of management. A purchase is a disposition, not management, so Article 870 requires a special agency that names the act and the dispositions it entails. **Does the car have to end up in my name?** That is yours to decide, and the deed has to say which you chose. An agent can buy for you, with the vehicle registered to you from the start, or buy in their own name and transfer it afterwards. Registration goes through the RTA either way. What the deed cannot do is leave the question open. **Can my agent buy the car in their own name and transfer it to me later?** Yes, but that is two dispositions rather than one, and Article 870 asks for the type of act and the dispositions it entails. If the deed mentions the purchase and says nothing about the transfer, the agent’s authority for the second step is arguable. We write both, or we write neither and keep the purchase in your name. **How long does it stay valid?** For the term written into it. Article 897 extinguishes an agency on completion of the work entrusted to the agent, on expiry of the term specified for the agency, or on the death or loss of legal capacity of either party. There is no general statutory period in UAE law, so any fixed number of years you have read elsewhere is not a general rule. **Can I cancel it once the car is bought?** Article 898 lets a principal revoke or restrict the agent’s authority at any time, unless the agency involves the right of a third party or was issued in the agent’s interest. Article 899 makes the principal liable to compensate the agent for revoking at an inappropriate time or without acceptable justification. Sub-agencies fall with the principal agency under Article 903. **Does the deed have to be in Arabic?** In Dubai, instruments are drawn up in Arabic. Under Dubai Law 4/2013, a document in a foreign language is accepted only with an Arabic translation by a certified translator, and both versions are signed by the parties. Documents going to Dubai Courts must be translated by a legal translator approved by the Ministry of Justice. **What are the official fees?** The federal schedule, Cabinet Resolution 19/2024, sets AED 100 per party for executing or notarising a general or special power of attorney, and AED 50 per page for notarising a translation included in the instrument. That schedule sits under the federal notary law, which excludes local judicial authorities with their own legislation, and Dubai has its own. Our drafting and translation charges are separate and are not government fees. **I am outside the UAE. Can I still appoint someone?** Yes. A power of attorney signed abroad is attested by the foreign ministry of the country it was issued in, then by the UAE embassy or consulate there, then by MOFAIC in the UAE. MOFAIC publishes AED 150 for individual affairs documents and AED 2,000 for commercial documents. The UAE is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so an apostille does not replace that chain. Start here ## Talk to us before the wording is set Send us the two names and a description of what is being bought, and we will tell you whether one deed covers it or whether the purchase and the transfer need to be written separately. We draft in Arabic and English, arrange the legal translation, check every name against the documents, and attend the ratification with you. The notary public ratifies. We do not. [Get started](/contact/) [Call us](tel:+971555640358) [WhatsApp us](https://wa.me/971555640358) [Send your documents](mailto:info@poaindubai.ae) ## Tell us what the document has to do Say who will receive it and what you need it to allow, and you will get a straight answer on the wording, the government fees and what to bring. You can also [send it through the contact form](/contact/). ### Call us Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call. [+971 55 564 0358](tel:+971555640358) ### WhatsApp Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to. [Message us](https://wa.me/971555640358) ### Email Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents. [info@poaindubai.ae](mailto:info@poaindubai.ae) ### Visit the office Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign. [Find us on the map](https://maps.app.goo.gl/J2Aoax7ii4XzNZTt5) **Opening hours.** Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.