Rally Permit vs Club Permit in Victoria: Which One Do You Need?

A rally permit is for competition. A club permit is for limited private use of an older vehicle. Comparing a rally permit vs club permit comes down to what you are doing with the car: a rally permit covers Motorsport Australia rallies and the travel around them, while a club permit covers 45 or 90 logged days a year, anywhere in Australia.

What each permit is for

Both sit under the same VicRoads heading and neither is registration. Past that, they have almost nothing in common.

The club permit

A club permit lets you drive the vehicle up to 45 or 90 days per year, anywhere in Australia, with a logbook entry every time you travel more than 100 metres from the garage address. The vehicle has to be more than 25 years old, and you have to belong to an approved VicRoads vehicle club or association before you apply.

The rally permit

Rally vehicles are unregistered vehicles identified by a rally permit number plate. VicRoads issues the permit for 12 months, and it exists so a competition car can take part in approved Motorsport Australia rallies. Neither the VicRoads nor the Transport Victoria rally permit page sets a vehicle age requirement.

Who can hold each one

This is the first hard divide, and for most owners it settles the question on its own.

A club permit asks for membership of a club that VicRoads has approved to operate under the scheme.

A rally permit asks for considerably more. You have to be a member of a car club affiliated with Motorsport Australia, and you have to hold one of the following:

• a current National Rally Licence, or a higher level competition licence
• a current International Rally Licence
• an alternative competition licence approved by VicRoads

If you do not have one, the rally permit is not available to you regardless of the car.

What you can actually do with the vehicle

The permitted uses are where the two schemes separate most sharply.

The Victorian Government's rally permit scheme page lists what a rally permit covers: taking part in approved Motorsport Australia rallies, transport stages during those rallies, travel to and from an approved rally, vehicle testing authorised by Motorsport Australia, reasonable travel for repairs, and testing to confirm repairs have been completed.

Read that list again and notice what is absent. There is no allowance for a Sunday drive, a car show or a run to the shops. Every permitted use attaches to an event or to keeping the car fit for one.

A club permit is the opposite shape. The club permit conditions place no restriction on where you go or why, beyond banning commercial use. What they ration is days: 45 or 90 a year, each one logged, and once the entries are used the vehicle stays within 100 metres of its garage address until you hold another permit.

So the rally permit restricts purpose and leaves the count open. The club permit restricts the count and leaves the purpose open.

Plates and record keeping

Each scheme has its own plate and its own book.

Club permit plates carry white characters on a maroon background with the words "club permit" along the top. Rally permit plates are dark blue and white, showing four numbers followed by "RP".

The books differ too. A club permit runs on a VicRoads logbook, with an entry for each day of use. A rally permit requires a Motorsport Australia logbook, which has to be carried in the vehicle when the permit is being used.

What each one costs

At the time of writing (23 September 2026), the VicRoads permit fees page lists a rally permit at $382.20 a year, plus $44.20 for a pair of number plates, with TAC charges applying separately.

The same page puts a car club permit at $135.70 for 45 days and $220.60 for 90 days. Each of those totals already includes the TAC charge, the permit fee, a $3.40 logbook and $44.20 number plates.

The rally permit is the more expensive of the two before the TAC charge is added, and it buys a narrower set of uses. Our breakdown of a club permit against full registration puts the club permit figures in context against ordinary rego.

Write-offs are treated differently

Both schemes exclude statutory write-offs, and there the similarity stops.

VicRoads will not issue a club permit for a vehicle recorded as a statutory write-off, currently registered, recorded as stolen, subject to Fines Victoria or hoon sanctions, unsafe for road use, or already listed on a club permit.

The rally permit scheme also rules out statutory write-offs, but it makes room for a repairable write-off, which needs a VIV certificate unless the vehicle is more than 15 years old. If your car has been written off in any category, check its status with VicRoads before you plan around either permit.

Which one fits your car

Three cases sort themselves quickly.

A 1980s road car you want to take to shows and drive on weekends. Club permit. The rally permit's permitted uses do not include recreational driving.

A competition car you rally under Motorsport Australia. Rally permit, assuming you hold the licence and the club affiliation.

An older car you drive on weekends and would like to enter in the occasional event. The two permits answer different questions, and neither one covers both patterns of use on its own. Ask VicRoads about your specific case before committing to either, because the published conditions do not settle it.

If the car is going to be driven often enough that 45 or 90 days will not stretch, full registration is the honest answer, and our post on whether a club permit is worth it works through who the scheme suits.

Where Club Plate Co fits

Club Plate Co is a VicRoads-accredited club under the Club Permit Scheme, and membership is $99 a year covering the endorsement of your permit application and your renewals.

Eligibility, roadworthy and logbook rules on a club permit are set by VicRoads and apply regardless of which club endorses the application.

Questions people ask about a rally permit vs club permit

Can I use my club permit car in a rally?

The club permit conditions do not list competition among their restrictions, and the rally permit scheme is a separate arrangement with its own licence and club requirements. VicRoads is the place to confirm a specific event, because the published conditions do not answer it directly.

Does a rally car need to be 25 years old?

Not according to the published requirements. Neither the VicRoads nor the Transport Victoria rally permit page sets a vehicle age requirement. The age categories that govern club permit eligibility belong to the Club Permit Scheme. The rally permit scheme sets its requirements around the driver's competition licence and Motorsport Australia affiliation instead. Our guide to the club permit age rule covers the 25-year test.

How long does a rally permit last?

Twelve months. A club permit allows up to 45 or 90 days of driving per year.

Can I drive to and from a rally on a rally permit?

Yes. Travel to and from an approved Motorsport Australia rally is one of the uses the scheme permits, alongside transport stages, authorised testing and reasonable travel for repairs.