A club permit is held by a person or an organisation that is a member of an approved VicRoads vehicle club or association. Who can hold a club permit is settled by that membership and by evidence of identity, not by who drives the car. Companies and incorporated associations can hold one through an authorised agent.
Who can hold a club permit: the two requirements
VicRoads sets a short test. Before an application starts, the prospective holder has to be a member of an approved vehicle club or association, and at the counter they have to produce evidence of identity for the club permit holder.
Everything else in the application is about the vehicle. The age, the roadworthy certificate, the standards declaration signed by the club — those tests follow the car. The two requirements above are the ones that follow the person.
Membership has to stay live for as long as the permit does. The Victorian Government's club permit conditions require you to be a member of an approved club or association, and if you switch clubs you cannot have a gap longer than 14 days between memberships.
Companies and incorporated associations
An organisation can hold a club permit. VicRoads asks for a completed authority to act as an agent form where the applicant is a company or an incorporated association, alongside evidence of identity for the authorised agent as well as the holder.
Two consequences follow. The first is administrative: company or organisation permits can only be renewed at a VicRoads Customer Service Centre, not through myVicRoads, so the yearly renewal is always a counter visit.
The second is about use. Holding a permit as a company does not permit commercial use of the vehicle. The Victorian Government lists using a club permit vehicle for commercial purposes among the breaches that can be reported to VicRoads, and VicRoads may suspend or cancel a permit for non-compliance. A company-owned classic can sit on a club permit; it cannot earn on one.
The holder cannot be changed
This is the part that surprises people at the point of sale. VicRoads states plainly that you cannot transfer a club permit. If you give or sell the vehicle, the permit has to be cancelled, and the new owner applies for a permit of their own.
For the buyer that means the usual sequence: join an approved club, get the vehicle's eligibility declared, obtain a roadworthy certificate where one is required, and lodge the application in person. The plates and logbook that came with the old permit belong to that permit, not to the car.
The one exception
If the permit holder dies, their spouse or domestic partner can take over the permit if they belong to an approved club. That is the only continuation VicRoads describes, and the club membership condition still applies to the person taking over.
What the holder is responsible for
The permit sits with a person, and so do the obligations attached to it.
- Keeping the logbook, with an entry for every day the vehicle travels more than 100 metres from its garage address.
- Staying inside the permitted days — 45 or 90 a year.
- Telling VicRoads within 14 days if the vehicle's details change, personal details change, or the holder joins a new club.
- Keeping club membership current, with no gap longer than 14 days when switching.
Other people can drive the vehicle. The logbook records the first use by the first driver on a given day, which assumes more than one driver is possible. What does not move is the responsibility: it stays with the holder.
Who cannot hold one
The scheme excludes by vehicle more often than by person. A vehicle has to be more than 25 years old, and a vehicle holds full registration or a club permit, not both. Statutory write-offs sit outside the scheme, and street rods run through their own federation.
If the car is short of the age gate, the holder's circumstances make no difference. Our guide to how old a car needs to be covers the date VicRoads measures from, and our eligibility checklist runs through the rest.
Where Club Plate Co fits
Club Plate Co is a VicRoads-accredited club under the Club Permit Scheme, and joining is the membership half of the test above. Membership is $99 a year and covers the endorsement of your permit application and your renewals. Joining, the eligibility check and the endorsement are all done online.
Whether the holder is a person or a company, the eligibility and use rules are the same. They are set by VicRoads and apply regardless of which club endorses the permit.
Common mistakes about the permit holder
- Buying a car and expecting the permit with it. A club permit cannot be transferred. It is cancelled, and the buyer applies afresh.
- Joining a club after starting the application. Membership comes first.
- Assuming a company permit unlocks business use. Commercial use is a reportable breach whoever holds the permit.
- Letting membership lapse between clubs. More than 14 days without membership breaches the conditions.
- Expecting a company permit to renew online. Company and organisation permits are renewed at a Customer Service Centre.
Questions people ask about who can hold a club permit
Can two people hold one club permit?
VicRoads asks for evidence of identity for the club permit holder, and for an authority to act as an agent form where an agent is acting for the holder. The continuation VicRoads describes on the death of a holder is to a spouse or domestic partner who belongs to an approved club.
Can my company own a club permit car?
Yes. A company or incorporated association can hold a club permit with a completed authority to act as an agent form. Its renewals have to be done at a Customer Service Centre, and commercial use of the vehicle remains a breach.
Can someone else drive my club permit car?
The logbook rules record the first use by the first driver on a given day, so more than one driver is contemplated. The permit conditions, the logbook and the club membership remain the holder's responsibility.
Do I have to join a club to hold a club permit?
Yes. VicRoads requires membership of an approved vehicle club or association before you start the application, and the conditions require you to keep it. Our overview of what a club permit is explains why the club sits at the centre of the scheme.
Club Plate Co endorses your club permit online — no meetings, no club nights.