Club Permit in Sale, Victoria
Wellington Shire’s council seat sits 212 kilometres east of Melbourne, at the point where the Princes Highway meets the north-eastern end of the South Gippsland Highway; the elm-lined stretch of highway through the middle of the city is King George V Avenue.
Updated 5 September 2026. Written and checked by Sam and Riley, the named officials who run Club Plate Co.
Club permits in Sale
The Gippsland city of Sale is around 30 kilometres inland, on the edge of a large wetland system upstream of where the Thomson River joins the Latrobe, and it has a documented flood history that includes 1978, 1990 and 2007. That low, damp ground is worth thinking about before a shed-stored car goes to a tester.
Five kilometres south at Longford, the Swing Bridge built between 1880 and 1883 still opens on weekend afternoons. It is the first movable bridge constructed in Victoria, and a short enough run out and back to be worth one logbook day.
Roadworthy testers near Sale
A vehicle built on or after 1 January 1949 needs a current certificate of roadworthiness from a licensed vehicle tester before a club official can sign anything. Transport Victoria publishes the licensed vehicle tester search, which is the only list that tells you who actually holds a licence.
Sale averages about 141 days of measurable rain and 167 cloudy days a year, and the older ground here is flood plain — 1978, 1990 and 2007 all put water through the city. A car that has spent years in a shed on that ground is worth checking for damp-driven items, brake and fuel lines, floors and wiring among them, before you pay for the formal inspection rather than after it.
A certificate is only valid for 30 days, so line the inspection up with the counter visit. If the car actually lives out at Seaspray or Loch Sport on the Ninety Mile Beach rather than in town, say so to the tester — a beach-side car and a Sale flood-plain car are worth looking at differently.
Where to get a roadworthy done near Sale
A short directory of 3 licensed vehicle testers in and around Sale, each listed publicly on Victoria’s official register. Club Plate Co has no arrangement with any of them and doesn’t endorse or recommend them, so confirm price, availability and booking directly with the workshop before you go.
The full register on the official Transport Victoria map lists every licensed tester near you.
All three listed here trade in Sale itself. For a car garaged out on the Ninety Mile Beach, run the licensed tester search on those postcodes too before assuming the drive into Sale is the only option.
| Workshop | Suburb | Phone | What we could confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| McKay Automotive & Sale Brake Specialists | Sale | 03 5143 0555 | Register listing, and its own site advertises roadworthy work |
| Hec Whykes Automotive | Sale | 03 5144 6211 | Register listing, and its own site advertises roadworthy work |
| Triple One Automotive | Sale | 03 5144 1921 | Register listing, and its own site advertises roadworthy work |
A workshop is linked here only where its own website advertises roadworthy work. The rest are on the register — genuinely licensed — but we could not corroborate the service anywhere else, so we have not linked them. Ring first.
The certificate is valid for 30 days. Book the test with your VicRoads visit already in mind, not months ahead. More detail on roadworthy and inspection.
Nearest VicRoads office to Sale
This is the one trip a club permit application cannot avoid. Bring the signed application and declaration, proof of identity, the roadworthy certificate if the vehicle was built after 1948, compliance-plate evidence and payment. The vehicle itself stays where it is.
The application asks for a garage address, and prints the rule beside the field: “VicRoads will only register vehicles garaged in Victoria” — Club permit application, form DTP1142 (01/25). Tell VicRoads within 14 days if that address changes.
Sale Customer Service Centre
28 Princes Hwy, Sale VIC 3850
8.30am – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday
All services, all vehicle type inspections, accredited bus plates
Morwell, at 87 Princes Drive, is the alternative if you are travelling west.
Details from the VicRoads office page, checked live 5 September 2026. Confirm before you travel — VicRoads changes office hours.
VicRoads takes general enquiries on 13 11 71, and lists every office on its club permit pages. Ring ahead if you want to know whether that office has plates in stock — if not, they are posted to you.
Roads worth the trip from Sale
Almost everything worth a logbook day from Sale runs south or east: the Swing Bridge at Longford, Seaspray and Loch Sport out on the Ninety Mile Beach, and the old port at Port Albert. Keep going east past Bairnsdale and the Great Alpine Road starts.
- King George V Avenue — Sale stands where the Princes Highway meets the north-eastern end of the South Gippsland Highway, and the elm-lined section of the Princes Highway through the city is named King George V Avenue as a tribute to the late King George V.
- Sale Swing Bridge, Longford — Just off the South Gippsland Highway 5 kilometres from Sale at the junction of the Thomson and Latrobe rivers: the first movable bridge constructed in Victoria, built from 1880 to 1883, and still swung between 3pm and 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Seaspray — A township on the Ninety Mile Beach about 10 kilometres off the South Gippsland Highway, 242 kilometres east of Melbourne.
- Loch Sport and the Lakes National Park — A township on the strip between Lake Victoria and the Ninety Mile Beach, next to the 2,390-hectare Lakes National Park; it was one of the last towns in Victoria to be connected to electricity, in 1980.
- Port Albert — One of the earliest ports established in Victoria, on Corner Inlet on the Yarram–Port Albert Road, 236 kilometres south-east of Melbourne; its 250-metre timber jetty once carried cargo between Melbourne and Van Diemen’s Land.
- Great Alpine Road from Bairnsdale — Runs 304 kilometres from Bairnsdale to Wangaratta over Mount Hotham at 1,840 metres, making it Australia’s highest year-round accessible sealed road; diamond-pattern snow chains must be carried between Harrietville and Omeo during the declared snow season.
Names link to each note’s source. Log the date before you leave the garage address: rules and logbook.
Sale car clubs, and where we differ
The nearest club that runs the permit scheme itself is the Gippsland Vehicle Collection at 1A Sale Road, Maffra — a motor museum in a wartime vegetable dehydrating shed of about 2,200 square metres, which the volunteers bought outright in 2018. It publishes its own club plates page, and states that a new application will not be processed without a prior appointment, with bookings limited to Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings or Monday afternoons.
Further east, the East Gippsland Historical Automobile Club publishes a red plate page of its own and meets at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of the month at Delvine Hall in Bairnsdale. Any club on the VicRoads approved list can endorse an application; what the local ones have in common is a time and a place you have to be, and that is the part Club Plate Co takes out.
Both routes are legitimate: VicRoads treats every approved club the same, and the permit is identical whichever one signs it. Its list of approved clubs and associations is the place to check that a club can actually endorse an application before you pay a membership. Comparing car clubs sets out what to look at.
Car shows and meets near Sale
Two dates recur in this district — the Rotary swap meet on the Sale Showgrounds oval in January, and Coffee Cars and Bikes in Maffra’s main street on the second Sunday of every month.
- Sale Swap Meet and Show and Shine — January. Swap meet sites, a show and shine and food trucks at the Sale Show Grounds, 41 Maffra-Sale Road, run by the Rotary Club of Sale; the 2026 event ran on Sunday 18 January from 7.30am to 3pm, with stallholder setup from 6am and camping available the night before.
- Coffee Cars and Bikes, Maffra — Second Sunday of every month. A morning gathering of cars and motorcycles in Foster Street, Maffra, close to the rotunda, from 8am to 10am, run by the Gippsland Vehicle Collection.
- Gippsland Vehicle Collection themed display — Changes every four months. The motor museum at 1A Sale Road, Maffra, builds a new themed vehicle display every four months; the display that opened on 30 August 2026 is Local Legends, running on a shortened season because of roof restoration.
Dates move from year to year, so check the linked organiser page before you log the day.
Club permit fees
VicRoads charges $135.70 for a 45-day car permit and $220.60 for a 90-day one, each including the TAC charge, the permit fee, the logbook and a pair of standard plates. A motorcycle is $113.60 and $198.50. Club Plate Co membership is $99 a year on top, and a licensed tester sets the roadworthy price.
| Item (car) | 45-day permit | 90-day permit |
|---|---|---|
| TAC charge | $60.50 | $117.70 |
| Permit fee | $27.60 | $55.30 |
| Logbook | $3.40 | $3.40 |
| Number plates (pair, standard) | $44.20 | $44.20 |
| Total paid to VicRoads | $135.70 | $220.60 |
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.
The pricing page breaks down every line, including motorcycles, plate replacement and what a first year actually costs.
Club permit questions from Sale
Where do I lodge a club permit application in Sale?
At the Customer Service Centre at 28 Princes Hwy, Sale, open 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday. It runs all services and all vehicle type inspections, so the counter side and any inspection happen in the one place. Morwell, at 87 Princes Drive, is the fallback if you are already heading west along the highway.
How far is Sale from Melbourne, and does a club permit need a Melbourne trip?
Sale is 212 kilometres east of Melbourne on the Princes Highway, and no part of the process needs the drive. The Sale office handles all services and all vehicle type inspections, the roadworthy comes from a licensed tester of your choosing, and the club endorsement is signed online.
Which car clubs near Sale sign club permits in person?
The Gippsland Vehicle Collection at Maffra runs the scheme and publishes its own club plates page, but it will not process a new application without an appointment booked into a Friday-to-Sunday morning or a Monday afternoon. The East Gippsland Historical Automobile Club at Bairnsdale also does permits and meets at Delvine Hall on the second Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm. Both are genuine options, and neither is fast if you are working to a date.
My car is garaged at Seaspray or Loch Sport — can I still use the Sale counter?
Yes. The requirement is that the vehicle is garaged in Victoria, and the garage address on the application is simply where it is kept. Seaspray sits about 10 kilometres off the South Gippsland Highway and Loch Sport is out on the strip between Lake Victoria and the Ninety Mile Beach, which makes Sale the practical counter for both.
Can I drive a permit vehicle over the Sale Swing Bridge?
It is a public road bridge on Swing Bridge Drive, 5 kilometres from Sale off the South Gippsland Highway, and it still swings between 3pm and 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. A logbook entry covers the whole day for the first driver, so the run down and back costs the same single day as a full loop of the lakes afterwards.
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.