You can drive a club permit car at night in Victoria. The conditions for club permit vehicles contain one night-specific restriction, and it applies only to left-hand drive vehicles whose lamps are not suited to right-hand driving. Everything else about night driving, including the logbook and the day allowance, works exactly as it does by day.
Can you drive a club permit car at night?
Yes. The Transport Victoria page on club permits sets out the rules that apply whenever the vehicle is used, and there is no general curfew among them. A club permit limits how many days a year you drive, not which hours of those days.
The one night-specific condition: left-hand drive vehicles
There is a restriction for left-hand drive club permit vehicles: you can only drive them at night if the required lights and lamps, including dipping headlamps, are suitable for right-hand driving.
A left-hand drive car whose lamps are not suitable for right-hand driving cannot be driven on the road after dark.
Two things follow. If you own a left-hand drive car on a club permit, sorting the headlamps is not cosmetic. And if you are buying one, ask what has been done to the lamps before you plan an evening run.
A drive past midnight uses two logbook entries
This is the rule that catches people out on a long night drive. You need a logbook entry every time you drive the vehicle more than 100 metres from its garage address, and a trip that spans before and after midnight needs an entry for each day.
So a drive home that leaves at 11pm and arrives at 1am spends two days from your allowance, not one. On a 45-day permit that is a real cost. If the trip can start an hour earlier or the stop can be made on the right side of midnight, it is worth the thought.
The same arithmetic applies on a longer run. Our guide to driving interstate on a Victorian club permit works through how days accumulate on a trip away.
Logbook rules that still apply after dark
The logbook works the same way at night. If you drive the vehicle several times in one day, only the first use by the first driver is recorded. Entries must not be written for future journeys. If you don't follow club permit rules, you may be fined.
There is also a hard stop at the end of the book. A 45-day permit can only use the first 45 entries, although you can get a second 45-day permit and attach it to the logbook. Once the entries are used up, you can't drive more than 100 metres from the garage address until you get another permit. Our guide to club permit garage address rules explains the garage address and the 100 metres.
Lamps, standards and what has to be in the car
The conditions that apply whenever a club permit vehicle is used apply after dark too:
- Vehicles on a club permit must meet Schedule 2 of the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021, and modified vehicles must also meet Vehicle Standards Information No. 8 and No. 33.
- If the vehicle has operating conditions, you must follow them and carry the certificate of approved operations in the vehicle.
- The club permit must be attached to the club logbook.
If operating conditions were issued with your permit, read them rather than assuming the general case.
Night does not change who can drive, or why
The driver rules are the same at 11pm as at 11am. Anyone driving the vehicle must follow their own licence conditions, and learner and probationary driver rules apply to club permit vehicles just as they do to any other. Probationary drivers can't drive a vehicle that someone other than the manufacturer has modified to increase performance. Our guide to who can drive a club permit car in Victoria covers each case.
The purpose rules are unchanged too. Using a club permit vehicle for commercial purposes is a breach, whatever the hour. Our guide to what the commercial use rules ban sets out where the line sits.
Where Club Plate Co fits
We are a VicRoads-accredited club under the Club Permit Scheme. Membership is $99 a year and covers the endorsement of your application and your renewals. If you are weighing up whether 45 or 90 days suits how you actually drive the car, that is worth working out before you apply. With Club Plate Co you can start whenever it suits, and you are not charged until everything is in hand. The conditions of use, including the logbook and the lamp rules, are set by VicRoads and apply whichever club endorses the permit.
Questions about driving a club permit car at night
Is there a curfew on club permit vehicles in Victoria?
Not a general one. The conditions for club permit vehicles include a night restriction for left-hand drive vehicles with unsuitable lamps. If your vehicle has operating conditions, check what was issued with your permit.
Does a night drive use one day or two?
One, unless it crosses midnight. A trip that spans before and after midnight needs an entry for each day, so a drive spanning midnight uses two entries.
Can I drive my left-hand drive import at night?
Only if the required lights and lamps, including dipping headlamps, are suitable for right-hand driving.
Can I fill in tomorrow's logbook entry tonight?
No. Entries must not be written for future journeys.
Club Plate Co endorses your club permit online — no meetings, no club nights.