Buying or Selling a Car on a Club Permit in Victoria
Start from the rule that decides everything else: a club permit is not transferable. VicRoads cancels it when the vehicle changes hands, and the new owner joins an approved club and applies for a permit of their own. Plates are the one thing that can sometimes stay with the car. Here is the checklist for buyers and the process for sellers.
The permit does not transfer with the car
VicRoads leaves no room for interpretation: “You can’t transfer a club permit. If you give or sell the club permit vehicle to another person, you’ll need to cancel the permit. The new owner can then apply for a new permit.” It applies to gifts as much as to sales, and to a car sold to a family member as much as to a stranger.
This surprises people because ordinary registration behaves the other way. The difference is that a club permit rests on the holder’s membership of a VicRoads-approved club and on that club endorsing the vehicle. A buyer has neither, so there is nothing to carry over.
| Full registration | Club permit | |
|---|---|---|
| Moves to the new owner on sale | Yes, by transfer | No. It is cancelled |
| Buyer needs club membership | No | Yes, an approved club |
| Plates stay with the vehicle | Usually | Only if VicRoads conditions are met |
| Unused days or period credit | Pro-rata refund rules apply | Do not carry over to the buyer |
There is one exception, for death rather than sale. VicRoads: “Their spouse or domestic partner can take over the permit if they belong to an approved club.” Anything else goes through the deceased estate process. The official page is Modify, update or transfer a club permit.
Getting the car home
Between cancellation and your new permit, the vehicle cannot be driven on the road. Three options, in order of how often they are the right one:
- Trailer or tow truck. Simplest, and the only one with no paperwork. Budget for it when you are negotiating.
- An unregistered vehicle permit from VicRoads. Priced at application time based on how long you need it, the type of vehicle and the garage address, since the postcode determines the TAC charge band.
- Time it so your own permit is issued first. Possible if the seller will hold the car while you join a club, get a roadworthy and lodge, but it depends on a cooperative seller and a Customer Service Centre appointment.
Do not rely on the seller’s permit for the drive home. Their days, their logbook, their club membership. Once you own the car, none of it covers you.
What the buyer pays for a new permit
A car on a 45-day permit is $135.70 in VicRoads fees and on a 90-day permit $220.60, each including the number plate and logbook charges for a new permit. Motorcycles are $113.60 and $198.50; trailers $52.35 and $80.80.
Fees checked 5 September 2026 against the VicRoads permit fees page. VicRoads sets and revises these figures, normally each July — confirm the current amount before you pay.
Add your roadworthy certificate, priced by the tester, and club membership, which is $99 a year with Club Plate Co. The full breakdown is on pricing.
Motor vehicle duty is a separate matter, administered by the State Revenue Office rather than under the club permit scheme. Neither the SRO’s duty page nor its exemptions and concessions page mentions club permits or historic vehicles, so ask the State Revenue Office how duty applies to your purchase.
What the seller has to do
Your obligations do not end when the money clears. The permit is in your name, and until it is cancelled the vehicle is on the road under your endorsement and your club membership.
- Cancel the club permit with VicRoads. This is the step VicRoads names explicitly on a sale or gift.
- Deal with the plates. If the buyer is not keeping them under the VicRoads conditions, return them: “If you’ve cancelled your club permit, you can return your club permit plate(s) to any VicRoads Customer Service Centre.”
- Hand over the logbook and the certificate with the car, and keep a copy of the logbook pages for your own records.
- Give the buyer a receipt of sale with the date, the price, the VIN or chassis number and both names.
- Tell your club. Approved clubs keep a list of permit vehicles linked to them, and yours should come off it.
- Do not expect a refund of the permit fee. VicRoads: “once the period of use has started, renewal fees are non-refundable.”
Selling with no days left
Perfectly normal, and it costs you nothing but a talking point. The days were your allowance for your permit period; they were never going to reach the buyer. Be straight about it, because a buyer who expects to drive the car away and then reads this page will come back to renegotiate.
Getting your own permit after the sale
Once the seller has cancelled, you are on the standard new permit path, and it is the same one every club permit owner has walked.
- Join a VicRoads-approved club. Club Plate Co is $99 a year, online, with no meetings.
- Get a roadworthy certificate if the vehicle was made on or after 1 January 1949, and a VASS approval certificate if the vehicle needs one.
- Have the club sign the vehicle eligibility and standards declaration and your club permit application. Both run on a 30-day clock.
- Lodge the originals and pay at a VicRoads Customer Service Centre. You leave with plates, a logbook, a certificate and windscreen labels, unless the plates from the sale have been approved to stay with the vehicle.
The whole process is set out on get a club permit, with the forms on the forms guide and the eligibility tests on eligibility. If the car came from a club you would rather not join, note that a club transfer is a different process and only applies to a permit you already hold.
Buying and selling questions
Is club rego transferable in Victoria?
No. VicRoads: “You can’t transfer a club permit. If you give or sell the club permit vehicle to another person, you’ll need to cancel the permit. The new owner can then apply for a new permit.” The permit belongs to a person who is a member of an approved club, not to the vehicle, so it ends when the vehicle changes hands.
What does club rego non transferable mean?
It means the buyer cannot inherit the seller’s permit, days or paperwork. Ordinary registration transfers with the vehicle; a club permit does not. The seller cancels, and the buyer joins an approved club and applies for a new permit in their own name, with their own roadworthy certificate where one is required.
Why is club rego non transferable?
Because eligibility is personal. A club permit rests on the holder being a financial member of a VicRoads-approved club, and on that club endorsing the vehicle. A new owner has no membership and no endorsement, so there is nothing for VicRoads to carry across. The plates can sometimes stay with the vehicle; the permit cannot.
Can the buyer keep the club permit plates?
Sometimes. VicRoads allows the new owner to request to keep the plates if “the club permit is current, or it expired no more than three months ago”, the applicant “is a member of the same approved vehicle club as the previous owner”, and “the club permit number plate is for the same vehicle”. Otherwise the permit is cancelled and the buyer applies fresh.
How do I get the car home if the permit has been cancelled?
Trailer it, or apply for a VicRoads unregistered vehicle permit. Driving a vehicle whose club permit has been cancelled or has expired is driving an unregistered vehicle. An unregistered vehicle permit is calculated at application time from the duration, the vehicle type and the garage address postcode.
What happens if the permit holder dies?
VicRoads makes one exception to the no-transfer rule: “Their spouse or domestic partner can take over the permit if they belong to an approved club.” For any other beneficiary, VicRoads deals with it as a reassignment or cancellation of a club permit for a deceased estate, which is a separate process on its site.
Can I sell a club permit car with no days left in the logbook?
Yes. Days are the holder’s allowance for the permit period and do not transfer either way, so an empty logbook affects the sale only in that neither you nor the buyer can legally drive it on the permit until it is renewed. Sell it as it stands, and let the buyer plan for a new permit.
Start whenever it suits. Pay only when everything’s in.
Your classic deserves to be driven. Begin your application now and it waits for your roadworthy — we don’t charge you until it’s all in hand. Not sure you’re eligible? It’s just the build date: 25 years or older and you’re in.