Search "club rego VIC new rules" and you will find forum threads, a screenshot doing the rounds, and very little from VicRoads. This post is the boring answer, and for once it can be proved rather than asserted: the club permit rules did not change. Not in 2025, and not in 2026.
Did the club permit rules change in Victoria in 2025 or 2026?
No. The Victorian Club Permit Scheme runs on the club permit division of the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021. We compared the version of those regulations in force on 1 July 2024 against the version in force on 1 January 2026, provision by provision. All 225 club permit provisions are textually identical — not reworded, not renumbered, not renegotiated.
The regulations were amended four times inside that window. None of the four amendments touched the club permit division or the fee item that sets the permit charge.
| Authorised version | In force from | Changed the club permit rules? |
|---|---|---|
| Version 007 | 1 July 2024 | Baseline for the comparison |
| Version 008 | 27 May 2025 | No |
| Version 009 | 1 September 2025 | No |
| Version 010 | 30 September 2025 | No |
| Version 011 | 1 January 2026 | No |
Version history and authorised PDFs read from the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021 on legislation.vic.gov.au on 5 September 2026. You can run the same comparison yourself — legislation.vic.gov.au keeps every authorised version, dated.
What about the black and white club plates?
There is no such change. A claim that Victorian club permit plates would switch to black and white from July 2025 spread on social media from late April 2025 and has been recirculating since. Nothing in the regulations supports it, and the VicRoads club permit plates page still states that club permit plates have white characters on a maroon background. A plate design change would have to appear in one of those two places. It appears in neither.
What about electronic logbooks and stricter scrutiny?
Same answer. A club newsletter circulated in June 2025 describing increased fees, electronic logbooks and stricter scrutiny as changes coming to the scheme. None of it appears in the regulations, and none of it appears on any VicRoads or Transport Victoria club permit page. The logbook provisions in force on 1 January 2026 are word for word the ones in force on 1 July 2024.
Did the fees change?
Not in a way that changes a rule. The permit charge is set in fee units rather than dollars — a club eligible vehicle permit is 1.6 fee units for 45 days and 3.2 fee units for 90 days — and that item reads identically in both versions we compared. Dollar amounts move when the fee unit is indexed, not when a rule changes.
As at 5 September 2026 a car permit totals $135.70 for 45 days and $220.60 for 90 days, each covering the TAC charge, the permit fee, the logbook and a pair of standard plates. Every figure on the VicRoads permit fees page is unchanged from our previous check in July 2026. A price is not a rule, and none of those figures change how you may use the vehicle.
So which rules actually apply right now?
Six obligations, all of them published on the Transport Victoria club permit rules page. You must be a member of a VicRoads-approved club, keep a logbook, make sure whoever drives follows their own licence conditions, tell VicRoads when the vehicle's details change, present the vehicle for an audit inspection if asked, and follow any operating conditions on the permit while carrying the certificate of approved operations.
The notification duty has a deadline written into the regulations: within 14 days of a change to the permit holder's name or address, a change to the vehicle particulars or the vehicle being modified, or a change to the vehicle's garage address. That is regulation 185(1)(f), and it is one of the 225 provisions that did not move.
The logbook rules are the ones people get wrong. An entry is required every time the vehicle travels more than 100 metres from its garage address. If it goes out more than once in a day, only the first use by the first driver is recorded. A trip that runs through midnight takes an entry for each day. Entries are never written in advance. Our club permit rules and logbook guide works through each of these with examples.
Has eligibility changed?
No. The categories are unchanged: veteran vehicles made before 1 January 1919, vintage vehicles made after 31 December 1918 and before 1 January 1931, and classic and historic vehicles made after 31 December 1930 but more than 25 years old, including replicas. Trailers, heavy vehicles, street rods and motorcycles all still sit inside the scheme.
The vehicle has to meet the standards relevant to its year of manufacture. Modified vehicles must also meet VSI 8 and VSI 33 — VSI 33 is "Guidelines for modifications to vehicles operated under Victoria's club permit scheme", published October 2021 and still listed as a current standard.
The exclusions are unchanged too. A vehicle recorded as a statutory write-off cannot go on a club permit, and neither can one already listed on a club permit. Roadworthy requirements are unchanged: a vehicle made on or after 1 January 1949 needs a certificate, with street rods, light trailers and plant-based special purpose vehicles exempt, and a pre-1949 vehicle can instead be declared safe by a club official.
Is VicRoads cracking down on club permits?
The enforcement powers people call a crackdown are not new, and they are all published. VicRoads can require an audit inspection at any time. It can ask for a roadworthy certificate or a VASS approval certificate showing the vehicle meets club permit standards. It can direct the vehicle to a nominated testing site or an authorised officer. Transport Victoria's own wording is blunt: if you do not follow the rules, you may be fined, and VicRoads may suspend or cancel the permit.
There is also a standing invitation to the public. Transport Victoria runs a "report a breach of club permit rules" section for two specific complaints: using a club permit vehicle for commercial purposes, and modifying one beyond vehicle standards. That is the mechanism behind most crackdown stories. It is a reporting form, not a new rule, and it has been there for years.
Why the rumours keep coming back
Partly because VicRoads publishes no changelog for the scheme. There is no "what's changed" page, no version number on the club permit pages, and no notice when wording is edited in place. That leaves a vacuum, and a screenshot fills a vacuum faster than a statutory rule does.
The fix is unglamorous. The rules themselves live on legislation.vic.gov.au, where every authorised version is dated and kept. If someone tells you a club permit rule has changed, ask which version of the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021 changed it. There is a correct answer to that question, and through 1 July 2024 to 1 January 2026 the answer is none of them.
If you are new to the scheme rather than chasing a rumour, start with our guide to the Club Permit Scheme in Victoria, which explains how the whole thing fits together.
Provision comparison from authorised versions 007 and 011 of the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021; obligations, reportable breaches and consequences from the Transport Victoria club permit rules page; plate colour from the VicRoads club permit plates page; fees from the VicRoads permit fees page; VSI 33 from the Transport Victoria vehicle standards information index. All retrieved 5 September 2026.
Questions
Did VicRoads change the club permit rules in 2026?
No. The club permit provisions of the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021 are textually identical between the version in force on 1 July 2024 and the version in force on 1 January 2026. The regulations were amended four times in between, and none of those amendments touched the club permit division.
Are Victorian club permit plates changing to black and white?
There is no such change in the regulations or on any VicRoads page. The claim spread on social media from April 2025. The VicRoads club permit plates page still states that club permit plates have white characters on a maroon background.
Is VicRoads introducing electronic logbooks?
Not according to any published source. A club newsletter in June 2025 described electronic logbooks and stricter scrutiny as coming, but nothing of the kind appears in the regulations or on the VicRoads and Transport Victoria club permit pages. The logbook rules are unchanged.
Have club permit fees gone up?
Not since our last check. The permit charge is set in fee units — 1.6 for 45 days and 3.2 for 90 days — and that item is unchanged between the two versions we compared. Dollar amounts move with fee unit indexation, not with a rule change. A car permit is $135.70 for 45 days and $220.60 for 90 days as at 5 September 2026.
How do I check for a genuine rule change myself?
Go to the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021 on legislation.vic.gov.au. Every authorised version is listed with the date it came into force, and you can open any two and compare them. VicRoads publishes no changelog for the scheme, so the legislation site is the only place a real change is provable.
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