Salik

Deactivate the tag in your Salik account immediately on sale. Failing to deactivate continues to accumulate passes on the old plate against your account. The buyer must activate a new tag for their use of the vehicle.

Plate change (new vehicle, new emirate, new private plate) requires re-linking the tag to the new plate in the Salik account. Without re-linking, the gantry reads the plate as unregistered.

Open Salik > Fines, pay all open fines. Sync to RTA driver file is within minutes. Mulkiya renewal then proceeds. For amounts uncertain, the RTA app shows the consolidated Salik+traffic debt.

Even legitimate disputes are usually rejected past 90 days. The fine becomes payable. Lesson: monitor the trip feed weekly and dispute any anomaly within the window.

The rental company gets the fine and usually chases the renter within weeks; some rentals include Salik in the daily charge, others bill it afterwards. Confirm with the rental at pickup; the fine ladder applies to the registered owner regardless of who was driving.

The adhesive is one-time. Buy a replacement tag at AED 50 from any RTA Customer Happiness Centre or ENOC/ADNOC station. Do not attempt to re-fix the old tag; the RFID is damaged by peeling.

AED 6 per gate during peak hours (06:00-10:00 and 16:00-20:00 weekdays). AED 4 per gate off-peak (10:00-16:00 and 20:00-01:00). Free between 01:00-06:00 every day. Sundays are flat AED 4 except the free window. From 1 June 2026 a 5% VAT is added on top. Confirm exact rates on salik.ae before assuming a budget figure.

Dubai operates 13 Salik gates as of 2026, positioned on Sheikh Zayed Road (multiple gantries), Al Garhoud Bridge, Al Maktoum Bridge, the Business Bay crossing, the Floating Bridge, Al Safa, Airport Tunnel, and other key arteries. The full gate map is published on salik.ae.

The plate is read, the registered owner is identified through RTA, and an unregistered-vehicle fine is generated: AED 100 for the first offence, AED 200 for the second, AED 400 for the third, and vehicle suspension at the fourth. The toll is added on top of the fine.

No. Salik is Dubai-only. Abu Dhabi runs its own Darb toll system on Sheikh Zayed, Maqta, Mussafah and Sheikh Khalifa bridges, with its own separate account. Sharjah and the northern emirates have no toll system. A Salik tag passing under a Darb gate does nothing; the vehicle owner gets a Darb fine.

No. The tag adhesive is one-time and the RFID is plate-linked. You must buy a new tag for the new vehicle and deactivate the old one in your Salik account. Failing to deactivate continues to accumulate any passes on the old plate against the old vehicle, which can affect a buyer.

Log in to salik.ae or open the Salik app, navigate to Fines. The same data appears in the RTA driver file on rta.ae and in DubaiNow. Mulkiya renewal will not proceed while Salik fines are unpaid, so most residents clear them in the same session.

No. Salik is the road toll system for private vehicles. Nol is the RTA's transport and micro-payment card used on Metro, bus, tram, water bus, and at parking meters and Nol-enabled retailers. They are separate accounts run by separate teams, although both ultimately roll up under the RTA umbrella.

Open salik.ae or the Salik app within 90 days of the violation, navigate to Fines > Dispute, and submit. Evidence that works includes: photo or video showing the gate gantry was inoperative or showing your vehicle was not at the gate at the timestamp (geo-tagged dashcam footage is strongest); a Salik receipt showing payment for the same passage from a separate account; an ownership transfer record showing the vehicle was no longer in your name at the time of the alleged passage. Disputes are rejected most often because the user did not have an active tag and is simply objecting to the AED 100/200/400 unregistered-vehicle fine ladder - which is not a dispute basis. Successful disputes reverse both the toll charge and the fine. Outside the 90-day window even legitimate disputes are usually rejected, so file promptly. For repeat dispute issues call Salik on 800 72545.

From 1 June 2026, 5% VAT applies to all toll passages and the AED 100 tag activation fee. For a typical Dubai commuter doing 40 weekday round-trips per month through 2-3 gates each way, the pre-VAT cost runs roughly AED 400-700/month under the variable schedule (peak AED 6, off-peak AED 4). VAT adds AED 20-35/month. For high-mileage users (deliveries, sales, ride-share), the VAT can add AED 50-100/month. The line item appears separately on the monthly statement which makes expense reimbursement and VAT recovery on business journeys straightforward. Reimbursement claims need the new line item to match the receipt; older expense templates that lumped Salik into a single figure should be updated. Confirm specific rates on salik.ae at the moment of activation.

When the Salik account balance reaches zero (or insufficient to cover a passage), the gantry still reads the tag but the passage cannot be debited. Every subsequent passage through any of the 13 gates is then treated as an unregistered-vehicle passage and generates the AED 100/200/400/suspension fine ladder on top of the toll itself: first offence AED 100 + toll, second AED 200 + toll, third AED 400 + toll, fourth offence suspends the vehicle in the RTA system. The fines compound quickly during rush hour - a Sheikh Zayed Road commuter can hit AED 100 + AED 200 + AED 400 in a single morning if multiple gates are crossed. Top up immediately on noticing a zero balance to stop new fines; the fines already posted remain payable. Enable auto-recharge with a trigger at AED 100 and recharge amount AED 200-500 as the standard insurance. Auto-recharge requires a saved card and active SMS-OTP capability.

When the annual Mulkiya (vehicle registration) renewal hits the RTA driver file check, the system queries every linked account including Salik for outstanding balances and fines. Any unpaid Salik fine (the AED 100/200/400 unregistered-vehicle ladder or any disputed but unpaid toll) blocks the renewal at the payment step - the RTA app or driver-file portal shows 'Outstanding Salik balance' with the amount and a payment button that routes to the Salik account. Clear the Salik fines, the RTA file refreshes within minutes, and renewal proceeds. The same applies at driving licence renewal. The most common surprise is the AED 100 first-offence fine from a brief zero-balance period months earlier that the resident never noticed - it surfaces only at Mulkiya time. Check the Salik account quarterly via the app, salik.ae, or Dubai Now to catch these early. The Salik > Fines screen lists every open fine with date, gate, and amount.

On discovering a stolen Salik tag (or stolen vehicle with active tag), the immediate priorities are: (1) Log in to salik.ae or the Salik app within minutes and deactivate the tag via Account > My Tags > Deactivate. Deactivation propagates to all 13 gates within minutes, preventing further account debit. (2) File a Dubai Police report on the stolen tag or vehicle - file via the Dubai Police app, Dubai Now, or station visit. The police case reference is needed for any later dispute of passages made between theft and deactivation. (3) Call Salik on 800 72545 to confirm deactivation reflected and to discuss reversal of any passages made by the thief between theft and deactivation - with a valid police report Salik typically reverses these passages, but it requires the report number. (4) Order a replacement tag (AED 50) after recovering the vehicle, or activate a new tag on the new vehicle. The deactivated tag cannot be reactivated; the RFID is permanently retired once deactivated.

No. The Salik tag is plate-linked and the adhesive is one-time use. The RFID inside the tag is permanently bound to the registered plate number in the Salik account; physically moving the sticker to a new windshield does not move the registration. A passage with a tag on the wrong plate generates the AED 100/200/400 unregistered-vehicle fine on every gate even though the tag is technically active in your account. The correct process when changing vehicles: (1) Buy a new tag (AED 100 for new vehicle, or AED 50 for replacement if you are keeping the same Salik account). (2) Register the new tag against the new plate in the Salik account before driving through any gate. (3) Deactivate the old tag in the Salik account to stop any accidental debit and to free the plate registration for the new owner. (4) Affix the new tag to the new windshield with the original adhesive (no clear film between tag and windshield). Same principle applies when changing the plate number on the same vehicle (private plate purchase, emirate change) - re-link the tag to the new plate in the account before the next gate passage.