Car on Both a Club Permit and Full Rego?

Short answer: no. One vehicle cannot hold a Victorian club permit and full registration at the same time. It is one or the other, and the plates on the car tell you which. The longer answer is worth reading, because people asking this question usually mean one of four different things.

Why can't a car be on both?

Because VicRoads treats them as substitutes. Its own description of the scheme is that a club permit offers an alternative to regular vehicle registration for eligible historic vehicles: instead of full registration, permit holders drive on a limited number of days each year, either 45 or 90. The word doing the work there is "instead".

The mechanics enforce it. When a club permit is granted at a VicRoads Customer Service Centre you are handed club permit number plates, a logbook, a club permit certificate and labels for the vehicle. Those plates go on the car. A vehicle can only display one set of plates, and the set it displays is the one that describes its status.

Can I have two club permits on the one vehicle?

No, and this one is explicit rather than implied. VicRoads lists the vehicles that cannot get a club permit, and the list has two entries: a vehicle recorded as a statutory write-off on the Victorian or an interstate written-off vehicles register, and a vehicle already listed on a club permit.

That second exclusion has a consequence buyers hit constantly. If you buy a car that is on the seller's club permit, you cannot simply apply for your own while their permit is still attached to it. The seller's permit has to be dealt with before yours can exist. Our guide to buying or selling a car on a club permit covers what each side has to do and in what order.

Can I have one car registered and another on a club permit?

Yes, and this is what most people are actually asking. The restriction attaches to a vehicle, not to a person. A daily driver on full registration and a weekend car on club plates is the standard arrangement, and there is no limit in the published rules on how many club permit vehicles one person may hold.

What does not scale down is the paperwork. Each club permit vehicle needs its own application, its own roadworthy where one is required, its own logbook, and its own set of club permit plates. The 45 or 90 days are per permit, not a pool you share between cars, so two permitted vehicles means two logbooks and two allowances tracked separately.

Club membership is the one thing that does not multiply. Club Plate Co membership is a membership, and the vehicles you put on club permits under it are yours to nominate. The pricing page sets out the membership fee alongside the VicRoads charges for each permit.

What does each permit cost?

VicRoads charges $135.70 for a 45-day car permit and $220.60 for a 90-day one, each covering the TAC charge, the permit fee, the logbook and a pair of standard plates. Figures checked 5 September 2026; the permit component is set in fee units, so the dollar figures move with indexation rather than with a change to the rules. Those charges repeat for every vehicle you put on a permit.

Can I switch a car back and forth between the two?

You can move a vehicle from registration to a club permit, and you can move it back, but neither direction is a toggle. Going onto a club permit means confirming eligibility, joining an approved club, obtaining a roadworthy certificate if the vehicle was made on or after 1 January 1949, having a club official sign the vehicle eligibility and standards declaration, and lodging in person. Two 30-day clocks run through that: the roadworthy is valid 30 days, and the signed declaration gives you 30 days to lodge.

Going the other way means dealing with the club permit plates and registering the vehicle. Neither trip is expensive on its own, but doing it twice a year costs more in time and roadworthy fees than most owners expect. We set out the sequence in switching from full rego to a club permit, including why you should not cancel your registration before you start.

If the club permit lapses, does registration come back?

No. Nothing reverts on its own. An expired club permit does not restore a registration that ended when the permit began — it just leaves the vehicle with no current authority to be driven. VicRoads is direct about the consequence: if your existing permit has expired, you cannot drive the vehicle until you have your renewal receipt.

That is worth planning around, because the recovery paths are different lengths. Renewing is the short one: a renewal notice arrives about six weeks before expiry, it needs your signature and a club official's endorsement, and an online renewal takes around three to five business days to process. Going to registration instead is the long one, with the vehicle in the meantime unable to be driven anywhere, including to a tester. Our renewal guide covers what to do if the notice never arrives or the permit has already lapsed.

Which one should the car be on?

The honest test is how often you drive it. A club permit allows use on at most 45 or 90 days a year, with a logbook entry required for every trip more than 100 metres from the garage address, and no way to buy extra days mid-period. If the vehicle does five days a week, it belongs on registration and no amount of careful logging changes that.

If it comes out for shows, club runs, the occasional fine Sunday and a run to the mechanic, the permit is the cheaper and entirely legitimate answer. Our guide to the Club Permit Scheme in Victoria explains how the days, the logbook and the plates fit together before you commit either way.

Eligibility and exclusions read from the VicRoads guide to getting a club permit; scheme description from the VicRoads club permit pages, both read on 4 September 2026.

Questions

Can one car have a club permit and full registration at the same time?

No. VicRoads describes a club permit as an alternative to regular vehicle registration, and a permitted vehicle displays club permit plates issued when the permit is granted. A vehicle is in one state or the other, and it wears the plates that match.

Can I have two club permits on one vehicle?

No. The exclusion is written into the eligibility rules: you cannot get a club permit for a vehicle already listed on a club permit. That also stops a buyer applying for a permit while the seller’s permit is still attached to the car.

Can I have one car registered and another on a club permit?

Yes, and that is the normal arrangement. The rule is about a single vehicle, not about you. Each club permit vehicle needs its own permit, its own logbook and its own set of club permit plates, and each application goes through the same steps.

Can I switch a car back and forth by season?

You can, but each direction is a full transaction, not a toggle. Moving onto a club permit means a roadworthy where one is required, a club-signed eligibility declaration and lodging in person. Moving back means dealing with the plates and registering the vehicle again. Most owners do it once.

Does the club permit count as registration for other purposes?

Treat it as a permit, not registration. It authorises use on 45 or 90 days a year under conditions, with a logbook, and it lapses if the conditions are not met. Where a form or a policy asks whether the vehicle is registered, say what it actually is.