Vehicle and transfer matters
Vehicle Power of Attorney in Dubai for Selling, Buying and Transfer
A vehicle power of attorney lets one named person deal with one named car on your behalf. We draft the Arabic wording, check the car details against your registration card, and attend the notary appointment with you.
- Arabic drafting and translation
- Chassis and plate checked
- We attend the appointment
Vehicle power of attorney, in short
A vehicle power of attorney is a special power of attorney for a vehicle: it names one car and lists exactly what your agent may do with it. Under UAE law an act such as sale or mortgage needs a special agency, so a broadly worded document will not carry it.
Legal type
Special agency naming the specific car
Language
Arabic, with a certified translation attached
Signed before
A notary public, in person or virtually
What a vehicle power of attorney covers
People search for a power of attorney for a car, a power of attorney for auto matters, or a limited power of attorney for a car. In UAE law these are all the same instrument, an agency contract. What changes is the scope. A document written in general terms gives your agent acts of management only, nothing more.
A vehicle POA is worth having drafted properly because the people who use it are matching a piece of paper to one car. The chassis number, the plate number and the emirate that issued the plate should agree with the registration card. If the car has been re-registered since that card was printed, we draft from the current record, not the old one.
Acts you can authorise for a vehicle
Name each one. An act you do not write down is an act your agent does not have.
Sell the car
Authorise your agent to agree the price, sign the sale, hand over the keys and complete the ownership transfer at the RTA for the named plate.
Buy a car
Authorise your agent to inspect, negotiate, pay the seller and register the car in your name, with or without a cap on the price you will accept.
Transfer ownership
A power of attorney for a vehicle transfer is read at the appointment itself. Say plainly that your agent may sign the transfer forms and receive the new registration card.
Renew and test
Routine work, the annual test, renewal of registration, paying fines and replacing a lost plate, sits closer to management, but it is still better named in the document.
Insurance and claims
A special power of attorney for a car insurance claim lets your agent report the accident, sign the claim forms, deal with the assessor and collect the settlement.
Export the car
If the car is leaving the country, name the cancellation of the registration and the application for the export documents as separate acts, not as one.
The law that decides what your document can do
Agency is governed by Federal Decree-Law 25/2025, the Civil Transactions Law, which replaced the 1985 Civil Code. Article 869 says an agency may be general, special, conditional or deferred to a future time. Article 870 is the one that matters for a car. Anything beyond management and preservation, sale and mortgage among them, needs a special agency that specifies the type of act.
Article 871, Federal Decree-Law 25/2025
If the agency is expressed in general terms without specifying what is intended, it shall only grant the agent the power to perform acts of management.
What we put in the wording before a transfer appointment
Article 870 requires the type of act and the dispositions it entails to be specified. It does not list fields for a vehicle, and there is no published form we can point you to, so the points below are our drafting practice built on that article. The authority receiving the document sets its own requirements.
- The chassis number, written exactly as it appears on the registration card
- The plate number, the plate code and the emirate that issued it
- Make, model and year, so a second car in your name cannot be mistaken for this one
- The agent’s full name as it is spelled on the Emirates ID or passport, with the ID number
- The act itself, sale, purchase, transfer of ownership, renewal or export, each written out
- The end date you want, because an agency runs for the term written into it
What to bring
Bring the car’s paperwork as well as your own. Dubai Courts asks for the vehicle ownership certificate when the power of attorney is for a vehicle.
From you, the owner
The notary verifies identity first
- Emirates ID, or a valid passport if you live abroad
- The vehicle ownership certificate for the car named
- Any bank or finance letter if the car is under a loan
- Your signature, given in front of the notary public
From the agent
The person you are authorising
- Emirates ID number, or an uploaded copy of the Emirates ID
- A passport copy where there is no Emirates ID
- The name in Arabic, matching the identity document
- The agent’s acceptance, since an agency is a contract between two people
If anything is not in Arabic
Arabic text, translation and interpreting
- A translation by a legal translator registered with the Ministry of Justice
- Both versions signed by the parties, not only the Arabic one
- An interpreter from the Ministry register if you do not speak Arabic
- Documents issued abroad legalised through the embassy chain first
How we handle it
We draft, translate and check. The ratification itself happens before a notary public, who verifies identity, capacity and consent and reads the deed out to you.
1
We take the car details
You send the registration card and both identity documents. We read the chassis and plate numbers off the card rather than off a WhatsApp message.
2
We draft in Arabic
The deed is written in Arabic, with the acts listed one by one. If you need an English version, a registered legal translator produces it and both texts are signed.
3
You attend the notary
Dubai Courts verifies capacity and eligibility by virtual or personal attendance. We book the slot, come with you and answer the notary’s questions about the wording.
4
Your agent uses it
You receive the ratified deed. Your agent takes it, with the registration card and identity documents, to the transfer appointment and signs there in your place.
A financed car and a car you own outright
The instrument is the same in both cases. What differs is how much of the car is yours to give away, and Article 870 treats a mortgage as an act that needs its own special authority.
Owned outright
Nothing sits behind the car
You are the only person whose consent the transfer needs. A special power of attorney naming the sale and the transfer is enough to put your agent in your seat.
Under finance
The bank’s interest comes first
A power of attorney carries only the authority you already hold. Check the ownership record first, because if it names the bank or the finance company then that party is the owner on the record and no wording will move it. Where the record is in your name with finance behind it, ask the financier what it needs before anything is drafted.
Where a vehicle POA falls short
The first list is what we see go wrong in the wording. The second is what to check the night before you go. What a receiving authority will accept is set by that authority, so confirm it with them.
- A chassis or plate number that does not read the same as the registration card
- English text only, with no Arabic and no certified translation
- A general authority to deal with my vehicle, with no act named
- The agent’s name spelled the same way on every page and on the ID
- An end date, or a clear statement of when the authority stops
- A foreign document already through the embassy chain and MOFAIC attestation
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
Is a vehicle power of attorney the same as a general power of attorney?
No. A general power of attorney written in general terms gives your agent acts of management only, under Article 871 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025. Selling or mortgaging a car falls outside management, so Article 870 requires a special agency that names the act and the car. A vehicle power of attorney is that special agency.
Does the power of attorney have to be in Arabic?
Yes. Under Article 27 of Dubai Law 4 of 2013, instruments are in Arabic, and a foreign-language document is accepted only with a translation by a certified translator, with both versions signed by the parties. Dubai Courts asks for legal translation approved by the Ministry of Justice. An English-only vehicle power of attorney will not be ratified.
Do both people have to attend in person?
The principal is the one who signs. Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2022 sets personal appearance as the default at Article 17, then allows the notary to use information technology tools instead at Article 18. Dubai Courts describes verifying capacity and eligibility by virtual or personal attendance. The Ministry of Justice also runs the E-Notary System for digitally ratified powers of attorney.
How long is a vehicle power of attorney valid?
There is no fixed statutory period. Article 897 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 ends an agency when the work is completed, when the term written into it expires, or on the death or loss of capacity of either person. So the validity is whatever end date you put in the document. Write one in.
Can I cancel it if I change my mind about the sale?
Yes. Article 898 of Federal Decree-Law 25/2025 lets the principal revoke or restrict the agent’s authority at any time, unless the agency involves a third party’s right or was issued in the agent’s interest. Article 899 makes you liable to compensate the agent if you revoke at an inappropriate time without acceptable justification.
I am abroad. Can I sign a vehicle power of attorney there?
Yes, through the legalisation chain. The document is attested by the foreign ministry of the country where it was issued, then by the UAE embassy or consulate there, then by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UAE. The UAE is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so an apostille does not replace those steps.
What does the notary charge for a vehicle power of attorney?
The federal fee schedule, Cabinet Resolution 19 of 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. Dubai Courts publishes its own schedule, so confirm the current figure at the counter.
Why use a lawyer rather than a typing centre?
Because the wording decides what your agent can do. Article 870 requires the type of act and the dispositions it entails to be specified, and Article 871 cuts a vaguely drafted document down to acts of management. We draft the Arabic, check the car details against the registration card, and attend with you. The notary public ratifies it.
Start here
Send us the registration card
Send the vehicle registration card and the identity documents for both people, and tell us in plain words what you want the other person to be able to do. We will draft the Arabic wording, provide the certified translation if you need one, and attend the notary appointment with you. The ratification itself is done by the notary public.
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.
Call us
Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call.
Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to.
Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents.
Visit the office
Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign.
Opening hours. Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.