How do I get club plates for my car?

Have you ever fancied owning a classic or historic car, but can’t justify paying a full year’s registration for a car sitting on jack stands for most of the year?

Restoring a car over 30 years old is not usually cheap. And adding to the expense, you could be paying several hundred dollars a year to keep registered a car that rarely leaves the garage.

There is an alternative, however. It’s called club registration.

State and territory registration authorities offer owners the option of reduced-cost registration for older cars that are no longer regular daily drivers.

This type of registration is specifically aimed at motorists who use their vehicles in competition of one kind or another, including events like show ’n’ shine or concours d’elegance. There’s no insistence that a club-registered car must compete, though.

So you could drive your club-registered MGB along to a motorkhana just to watch others fling their cars around witches’ hats. As long as the vehicle is being driven to an authorised club event, or somewhere for the purpose of testing or repair/maintenance, the authorities won’t bat an eyelid.

Club-reg drivers can even make the pilgrimage to Canberra for Summernats, Australia’s best-known specialist car enthusiast festival.

However, vehicles on club registration are not to be used for commuting, goods carrying or other purposes that are not acceptable within the tenets of each state’s club registration scheme.

The number of days they’re permitted to be driven on public roads through the course of the year is also restricted too, and owners are expected to keep track of their comings and goings in a logbook.

There are other hoops to jump through, of course, and one of those is that you must be a card-carrying member of an accredited club that may specialise in a particular make or model of historic vehicle.

Different states and territories place different restrictions on vehicle eligibility too. Victoria, for example, allows vehicles that are 25 years and older, but is currently reviewing the rules and could soon restrict eligibility to cars that are at least 30 years old – the entry point for similar programs in other states and territories.

Using Victoria as an example, VicRoads charges $38 for the plates themselves, plus $3.10 for a logbook.

On top of that, you’ll also pay $103.40 to the TAC (for compulsory third-party insurance) for 90 days or $52.80 for 45 days, and finally the permit fee, which is $47.40 for 90 days or $23.70 for 45 days. The total works out at $191.90 for 90 days or $117.60 for 45 days.

Further information is available from the VicRoads website.

Victoria also offers reduced-cost registration for rally cars. The cost for this type of registration is $327.60 for the permit and $38.00 for the plates. That’s still a marked improvement on the $834.80 Victorian motorists are asked to pay to register their standard commuter cars in 2021.

The other states and territories charge different rates – some lower, some higher, but all around the same mark. Owners will need to make enquiries of their respective motor vehicle registration authority.

Transport for New South Wales (formerly Roads and Maritime Services) distinguishes between ‘historic’ and ‘classic’ vehicles. By definition, historic vehicles must be at least 30 years old and unchanged – as they left the factory, in other words, with just a few exceptions such as the fitment of seat belts.

‘Classic’ vehicles, on the other hand, can be cars modified from standard and at least 30 years old, so that’s the relevant category for street rods and historic rally cars in NSW.

In Victoria, both modified and standard vehicles can be registered on club plates through the Club Permit Scheme, provided the car in question is at least 25 years old.

VicRoads will not issue a club permit for vehicles that are currently registered or recorded on the Written-off Vehicles Register as a statutory write-off. Nor will a club permit be issued for vehicles that have been stolen or subject to legal recourse from Fines Victoria or ‘hoon sanction’.

Many of these restrictions apply in the other states and territories too.

Queensland and South Australia apply a 30-year rule to most unmodified classics, but make exception for modified cars, which must be a ‘body-on-frame’ (full chassis) vehicle built before 1949. SA bundles historic, left-hand drive and ‘street rod’ vehicles all in the same basket.

Western Australia defines a classic car as one built before 1990, although there’s a dispensation for newer ‘street rods’, modified in accordance with the ‘National Guidelines for the Construction and Modification of Street Rods in Australia’.

For its special interest vehicle registration, Tasmania classifies eligible vehicles in three ways: Class A – at least 30 years old or a street rod; Class B – a rally car with the owner/driver licensed to compete in rally competition; and Class C – a vehicle modified to compete in charity ‘bash’ events.

The Northern Territory makes no stipulations concerning the vehicle’s age, but restricts usage specifically to authorised road events or for the purpose of maintenance and testing.

In the ACT, the Concessional Registration Scheme is co-managed by the ACT Roads & Traffic Authority and the Council of ACT Motor Clubs. To be eligible, vehicles must be at least 30 years old.

All vehicles must be roadworthy, and must be assessed and certified by an engineer if modified.

The registration authorities around the nation insist that owners of vehicles on club registration should be paid-up members of an accredited car club, but this doesn’t preclude others from driving the car provided the reason for the trip falls within the legislated framework for each state or territory’s club registration scheme.

Motorists in New South Wales are permitted to drive their club-reg vehicles up to 60 days a year, in addition to official club events, provided each journey is recorded in a logbook.

Victorian motorists are only permitted to drive the club-registration vehicles for 45 or 90 days a year, and must maintain a logbook for every journey too.

NSW allows classic (modified) or historic vehicles to transport passengers for “weddings or other functions”, if the vehicle complies with ‘Point to Point Transport’ legislation and with the approval of the primary car club, with that approval recorded in the club’s official minutes or ‘Day book’.

In Queensland, vehicle use is restricted to attending club events, exhibitions, social functions, testing, maintenance and roadworthiness inspections.

South Australia insists that motorists fill in logbooks for their vehicles on club registration. The vehicle can be driven up to 90 days a year.

Western Australia also limits vehicle use to 90 days a year, but goes one step further in stipulating that 60 of those days pertain to official club events, and the remaining 30 are for testing, repair and maintenance. Like Queensland, WA doesn’t permit vehicles to be used for “fee, hire or reward”.

As is the case in other states, Tasmanian drivers must maintain a logbook and usage is limited to 104 days a year, or 52 days for six months, depending on the period of registration.

Yes. Indeed.

In New South Wales, you will need to attend a service centre with an application for conditional registration, proof of your identity, a ‘Vehicle suitable for safe use’ declaration, or one of the following forms completed, as appropriate to your circumstances: street rod declaration, rally vehicle declaration, historic vehicle declaration or classic vehicle declaration.

In addition, you will need a safety check inspection for street rods, issued by the NSW Street Rod Committee.

Historic vehicles require a safety check inspection if the club you have joined is less than two years old. A classic vehicle declaration must be accompanied by an Authorised Unregistered Vehicle Inspection, and the modified classics also require a compliance certificate.

If the car is imported, there must be vehicle import approval paperwork supplied too.

Victorian motorists will need a roadworthy certificate for vehicles built since 1949 and a Vehicle Assessment Signatory Scheme certificate – the latter for vehicles that have been modified or are grey imports manufactured after December 31, 1968.

Queensland requires vehicle owners to fill out a registration concession application and submit it with proof of identity and evidence of vehicle compliance. That includes evidence of club membership – on club letterhead, including details of your vehicle by make, model, year and chassis number/VIN – and a dating certificate, if the Department of Transport and Main Roads cannot establish the vehicle’s year of manufacture.

This certificate will need to be completed by a club official with the same details as the club membership certificate.

Owners of street rods must supply corroborating evidence from the Queensland State Director of the Australian Street Rod Federation, certifying that the vehicle was built prior to 1949.

South Australia requires two completed forms – an application for registration and third-party insurance (MR1) and Approval for registration of a vehicle on the Club Registration Scheme (MR334) – plus exemption from the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, Vehicle Standards for historic, left-hand drive or ‘street rod’ vehicles.

Vehicle owners in Western Australia must submit a Concessions for Classics Scheme form (E116) for vehicles currently registered.

In Tasmania, it’s necessary to submit an application forming part of the special interest vehicles handbook (MR161) for Class B or C vehicles. Transport Services will issue an ‘approval in principle’ which the vehicle owner is to take with the vehicle to an approved inspection station for testing.

If the vehicle passes the test, the owner is to submit the application to Service Tasmania along with the inspection report, approval in principle, previous registration plates (if still available), copy of driver’s licence and proof of vehicle ownership (entitlement).

In the Northern Territory, vehicle owners are required to complete an R42 form (NT Club Vehicle Registration Application) and forward that to the Motor Vehicle Registry.

For the ACT, the Council of ACT Motor Clubs instructs vehicle owners to submit proof of membership to an accredited club – with endorsement from the club registrar – and proof of vehicle compliance with the Roads & Traffic Authority/Council modification policy.

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory