Club Rego Victoria: The Club Permit Scheme

Club rego is a VicRoads registration option for vehicles more than 25 years old. It lets you drive 45 or 90 days a year instead of paying full registration, at a fraction of the cost. Officially it is the Club Permit Scheme, and to use it your vehicle must be linked to a VicRoads-approved car club.

Vehicle age

More than 25 years, measured by compliance plate date

Driving allowance

45 or 90 days a year, your choice at application

Logbook

Required, filled in before each journey, carried in the vehicle

Club membership

Required, from any VicRoads-approved club in Victoria

Where you can drive

Anywhere in Australia, not just Victoria

VicRoads fee

$91.50 a year for 45 days, $176.40 for 90 days

People call it club rego, club registration, red plates or club plates. VicRoads calls it a club permit. They are all the same thing, and this page uses both terms the way people actually do: club rego for the everyday version, club permit where the paperwork and the rules use it.

Whatever you call it, it is a limited-use permit rather than full registration. That distinction matters, because the rules about when and how far you can drive are what you are trading for the lower cost.

Is your vehicle eligible for club rego?

The main gate is age. Your vehicle needs to be more than 25 years old to qualify under the Classic and Historic category, which covers the large majority of club rego vehicles.

VicRoads works from the compliance plate date, not the build date. That catches people out with imports. If your compliance plate reads 07/2001, the vehicle becomes eligible on 01/08/2026, even if it was built earlier overseas. Australian-delivered vehicles usually carry the same build and compliance date, so it rarely matters for local cars.

Vehicles built before 1931 fall under the Veteran or Vintage categories instead, which carry their own conditions.

Modified vehicles

Modifications are often fine, provided they sit within the VicRoads Vehicle Standards Information guidelines, specifically VSI 8 and VSI 33. Beyond those allowances you will usually need a Vehicle Assessment Signatory Scheme (VASS) approval certificate. If you have an existing VASS certificate or blue VASS plate and have made no further changes since, you generally do not need a new one.

Replicas and imports

Replicas are generally eligible under the Classic and Historic category, provided the vehicle they are based on is itself more than 25 years old. They usually require a VASS certificate. Imports without prior Australian registration history may also need one, mainly those built after 31 December 1968, or after 30 June 1975 for motorcycles.

It is not just cars

The scheme covers a lot more than sedans and coupes, and the rules shift a little depending on what you are permitting. Fees differ, the import cut-off differs, and so does where you carry the logbook.

• Motorcycles, where the plate costs half and the import cut-off is 1975 rather than 1968
• 4WDs and utes, where modifications and the work-use rule matter most
• Buses, caravans and trailers, which are their own categories, and trailers pay no TAC

45 days or 90 days?

You choose how many days a year you can drive. A 45-day permit costs less, a 90-day permit costs roughly double and gives you twice the allowance.

Ninety days is more than it sounds. There are 52 weekends in a year, so 90 days covers driving the vehicle on essentially every weekend day plus a few extra. Forty-five days is close to once a week. Most owners overestimate how often they will actually drive a car that is not their daily.

What club rego costs

Two separate costs: the VicRoads permit fee, and club membership. As of July 2026 the VicRoads side is:

On top of that, a one-off $44.20 for a set of number plates when you first join the scheme, or $215 if you want slimline plates. A roadworthy certificate is a separate cost paid to whoever issues it.

Club membership fees are set by each club and vary widely. At Traf's Club it is $5 for your first year and $50 a year after that. There is a fuller breakdown on the club rego costs page, and if you are still deciding, whether club rego is worth it works through the maths against full registration.

Why you need a car club

VicRoads does not issue club permits directly to individuals. An approved club has to confirm you are a financial member and sign the club section of your application. That is the whole of the club's formal role under the scheme. VicRoads decides eligibility, sets every fee, issues the plates and writes the rules.

The club does not have to be near you, and it does not have to be specific to your make of vehicle. Any club on the VicRoads approved list can endorse club rego for any eligible vehicle garaged anywhere in Victoria. If you are weighing up which one to join, we have written seven questions worth asking any club before you pay.

How to apply for a club permit

1. Get a roadworthy certificate. Required for vehicles manufactured on or after 1 January 1949. Vehicles built before 1949 are exempt. The certificate expires after 30 days, so do not get it too early
2. Join an approved club. You need to be a financial member before the club can sign anything
3. Complete the club permit application. The club signs its section, confirming your membership, and completes the Vehicle Eligibility and Standards Declaration that has to go with it
4. Take it to VicRoads. A Customer Service Centre processes the application, takes the fee, and issues your plates, logbook and windscreen sticker across the counter. The vehicle does not need to be present
5. Fill in the logbook before you drive. Not after

There is more detail on both forms, and the five reasons applications get knocked back, on the VicRoads club permit application explained.

The logbook and driving rules

This is where most people get caught out, and it is worth reading properly.

You do not need to be going to a club event. A club rego vehicle can be driven for any leisure purpose at any time, as long as it is not used for hire or reward for carrying goods. A Sunday drive, a coffee run or a trip to the shops all count.

What matters is the logbook:

• Every calendar day you drive more than 100 metres from the garage address needs an entry
• The entry must be made before the journey, never after, and never in advance for a future day
• If you drive more than once in a day, you only record the date once
• Entries must be in non-erasable blue or black pen, never pencil
• The logbook must be in the vehicle, or on you for a motorcycle or trailer, whenever you are on a public road

Fines apply for incomplete or missing entries, and police can treat the vehicle as unregistered. Once your days are used up you are restricted to within 100 metres of the garage address until the next permit period, regardless of the reason for the trip.

Driving interstate

Victorian club rego is valid anywhere in Australia. You still log the trip as usual. The occasional claim that Victorian club permits are not recognised in Western Australia is wrong, provided the holder is not ordinarily resident there.

P-platers and learners

The same rules apply as to any other vehicle in Victoria. If the car has a power-to-weight ratio over 130kW per tonne, is turbocharged or supercharged, or is a declared Probationary Prohibited Vehicle, a P1 or P2 driver generally cannot drive it solo. Most unmodified classics fall well under that threshold.

Selling a vehicle on club rego

A club permit cannot be transferred to a new owner. VicRoads requires the permit to be cancelled when the vehicle is sold or given away, and the buyer applies for their own, with a fresh roadworthy certificate.

There are two things worth knowing. If the owner dies, a spouse or domestic partner can take over the existing permit as part of the estate, with no roadworthy required. And the plates themselves can carry over if the permit is current or expired no more than three months, and the buyer joins the same club, which is worth knowing if you have a good plate combination.

Written by Ben Traficante, President of Traf's Club Inc, a VicRoads-approved club under the Victorian Club Permit Scheme. Last updated 14 September 2026. Fees and rules are set by VicRoads and can change, so confirm current figures before you apply.