A speedy drivers' license renewal at JPJ Melaka

In the blink of an eye, 5 whole years have passed since I last renewed my driver's license. With the expiry date coming up, and lots of things to do (Chinese New Year's just around the corner), it was going to be hard to find some time to get it done.

While it was possible to renew the driver's license at the Post Office or UTC, today I had some time in the morning, so I decided to test the efficiency of the Melaka JPJ staff (and also my luck). The Melaka JPJ officially opens at 7.45am, and I have absolutely have no reason to doubt it. I arrived at the JPJ (Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan) Melaka, (https://goo.gl/maps/WXmxMxbTPynFxmhG6) at Bukit Katil roughly around 8.40am. It wasn't too crowded, with roughly 50% occupancy of the seats. I do note that the space between seats was too narrow - worse than the economy seats in AirAsia....

I got a number, and looks like i was 16th in line (for driver's license renewal). There were dedicated counters for other functions, so in actuality there were more people in line, but they would be routed to other counters and hence did not impact the waiting time.

Having not brought along any photo, fortunately they could scan my identification card (which was taken quite some time ago, luckily still looks like me). The cost of renewal is RM30 per year, up to a maximum of 5 years. Plus RM2 for the scanning. After confirming my address and paying, I dropped off the documents at Counter A to get it processed. This took less than 5 minutes, so all in all I was done by 9.30am. Renewal date is from today until my birthday 5 years from now (so I got some extra days free 😃 ).

I'm happy to say that the staff here is friendly (from the reception, to the counter, to the collection) and very fast / efficient! Definitely commendable and a good place to get JPJ-related things done if you are living close by.

Weather-worn rear diffuser on my Honda Civic FD2

Years of exposure to the elements, almost daily baking under the hot sun (it's practically a land of eternal summer here in Melaka) and lack of shaded parking has taken its toll on the paint job of my Honda Civic FD2. Unlike corrosion, which is the biggest problem faced by cars in four-season countries like Germany (due to the use of salt to melt the snow and ice on the roads during winter), here we basically have to deal with the slow destruction of paint and plastics due to the effects of sunlight.

My rear diffuser is in quite bad shape. While it's structurally intact, the paint, or rather the clear coating has started to delaminate and peel off in large patchy areas. I've taken a photo below and did some photo contrast enhancement so it shows up better, but otherwise this is what it looks like.

The diffuser is not made of metal, so rusting is not a concern. However, once the upper clear coat is gone I worry the UV light may start to cause the plastic (possibly PU, but I'm not sure) to become brittle and crack. Well, since I'm getting my front windscreen repaired (due to the recent mishap which you can read more about over here), I'll take the opportunity to have it repainted. Now comes the question, should I repaint the entire car or just the diffuser? Given that it's hard to get exactly the same shade each time for metallic paint, it will definitely look odd and contrasting to the rest of the car. Of course, a full paint job will cost much more and take much longer - something to consider this close to Chinese New Year. Hmm, decisions, decisions....😟