Club Permit in Shepparton, Victoria
Three waterways meet here, and the Goulburn has been over its banks in the Shepparton, Mooroopna and Murchison areas in 1974, 1993, 2010–12 and again in October 2022. Where a club car sleeps is a live question in this town, not a formality.
Updated 5 September 2026. Written and checked by Sam and Riley, the named officials who run Club Plate Co.
Club permits in Shepparton
The region’s own museum, MOVE at Kialla, describes Goulburn Valley motoring history as sitting both on the roads and stored in farm sheds and on orchards across the district — which is still where a lot of these cars are.
Nothing about the Shepparton end is awkward: the Corio Street counter is a full-service office that also does the inspections, so no part of an application needs a run down the highway.
The club side is the only part with a real choice in it.
Roadworthy testers near Shepparton
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.
MOVE puts the region’s motoring history both on the roads and stored in farm sheds and on orchards, and a shed on a property is a different starting point from a suburban garage. Chewed looms and brake lines, nests in the ducting and perished rubber are what a tester finds there, so it is cheaper to look yourself before you book.
Heat does the slower damage. Shepparton Airport averages a 32.1°C January maximum and has recorded 46.2°C, and hoses, belts, coolant and wiring insulation age on that schedule whether the car is driven or not.
Only a licensed vehicle tester can issue the certificate, and it lasts 30 days, so book it close to the day you plan to be at the Corio Street counter rather than months ahead.
Where to get a roadworthy done near Shepparton
A short directory of 4 licensed vehicle testers in and around Shepparton, 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.
Every business listed here is in Shepparton itself. If none can fit you in, re-run the licensed vehicle tester search across Mooroopna, four kilometres west across the Goulburn, and Tatura, eighteen kilometres further on.
| Workshop | Suburb | Phone | What we could confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shepparton Roadworthy Centre | Shepparton | Not published | Register listing, and its own site advertises roadworthy work |
| Shepparton Autocare | Shepparton | 03 5821 4494 | Register listing, and its own site advertises roadworthy work |
| Dallas Automotive | Shepparton | 03 5822 1977 | Register listing, and its own site advertises roadworthy work |
| Rays Automotive Vintage Classic Modern | Shepparton | 03 5821 5479 | Register listing only |
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 Shepparton
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.
Shepparton Customer Service Centre
231–239 Corio St, Shepparton VIC 3630
8.30am – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday
All services, all vehicle type inspections, accredited bus plates
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 Shepparton
The Goulburn Valley Highway is the spine — 255.7 kilometres from Tocumwal down to Eildon, with a Shepparton bypass that has an agreed alignment and no start date. Off it, Tatura sits 18 kilometres west, Murchison 40 kilometres south, and the red gums at Barmah 63 kilometres north-west.
- Goulburn Valley Highway — Runs 255.7 kilometres from the Newell Highway near Tocumwal south to Eildon; the Arcadia to Seymour section is freeway, and the Shepparton bypass has a decided alignment around Mooroopna but no construction start date.
- Tatura — Eighteen kilometres west of Shepparton; home to Goulburn-Murray Water’s headquarters and to a complex of seven wartime internment camps that held between 10,000 and 13,000 people from 1940 to 1947.
- Murchison — Forty kilometres south on the Goulburn River, where a meteorite shower fell two kilometres out of town on 28 September 1969 and produced the first convincing evidence of amino acids of extraterrestrial origin.
- Barmah and the red gum forest — Sixty-three kilometres north-west on the Murray, beside the largest river red gum forest in the world; Barmah National Park sits on the river’s floodplain and is Ramsar-listed.
- Echuca — Seventy-six kilometres north-west at the junction of the Murray and the Campaspe, with a 332-metre redgum wharf left from the 1870s, when it was Australia’s largest inland port.
- MOVE, Kialla — The Museum of Vehicle Evolution at 7723 Goulburn Valley Hwy, Kialla, open 10am to 4pm, offers visiting car clubs discounted group entry and priority parking with dedicated display areas.
Names link to each note’s source. Log the date before you leave the garage address: rules and logbook.
Shepparton car clubs, and where we differ
The Goulburn Valley Motor Vehicle Drivers Club was formed at Numurkah in November 1970, shifted its meetings to Shepparton in 1972 and bought the Grahamvale Scout Hall as its own clubrooms in 2006. It is past 300 members, is a VicRoads-registered club under the Club Permit Scheme, tells intending permit holders to contact its Club Permit Officer, and runs a Red Plate Day each February where members put their club cars over a pit.
That is a proper club with a proper programme — third-Wednesday runs to Barmah, Murchison, Echuca and Nathalia, a touring rally, a December concours — and its by-laws also put new members through a twelve-month probationary period, which is worth asking about if you are working to a date.
Club Plate Co is the other kind of approved club: no meetings, no runs, no attendance requirement. Nothing stops you holding both, and plenty of people should — join the local club for the Wednesday runs, and use us for the signature.
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 Shepparton
Two of these fill the Shepparton Showgrounds on the corner of Archer and High Streets: Rotary’s motor show in March, and in September the swap meet its organising club bills as Victoria’s largest one-day swap. The other two are worth the drive — Numurkah’s main street in October, and Winton Motor Raceway near Benalla each May.
- Shepparton Swap Meet — September. Over 600 sites of veteran, vintage and classic car and motorcycle parts, collectables and bric-a-brac at the Shepparton Showgrounds, corner Archer and High Streets; the Goulburn Valley Motor Vehicle Drivers Club has run it since 1971 and calls it Victoria’s largest one-day swap meet. The 2026 meet is Sunday 13 September.
- Rotary Motor Show, Swap Meet & Market Day — March. Classic cars, custom builds and motorbikes at the Shepparton Showgrounds, run by the Rotary Club of Shepparton for its community projects; the 2026 show was Sunday 22 March, 9am to 2pm.
- Show Us Ya Wheels, Numurkah — October. A cars, bikes and trucks weekend that has run since 2001 and draws over 8,000 visitors; it moved into Melville Street in the main street of Numurkah in 2022, and the 2026 event is Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October.
- Historic Winton — May. Billed by the organising Austin 7 Club as Australia’s largest and most popular historic motor race meeting, with racing from the 1920s to the 1980s at Winton Motor Raceway near Benalla; the 50th meeting is 29 and 30 May 2027.
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 Shepparton
Where do I get club permit plates in Shepparton?
At the Shepparton Customer Service Centre, 231–239 Corio St, 8.30am to 4.30pm weekdays. VicRoads lists it for all services and all vehicle type inspections — lodging, inspection and plate collection therefore all land at that one counter, with no second trip anywhere.
What is the nearest VicRoads counter if Shepparton cannot fit me in?
A long way. Bendigo is 120 kilometres from Shepparton, Albury and Wodonga 176, and Melbourne 181. There is no near substitute, so treat the Corio Street counter as the plan rather than the fallback and go early in the week if you can.
My car has lived in a farm shed on a property — what should I sort out before the roadworthy?
Wiring and brake lines first, because rodents get at both, then anything rubber. Shepparton Airport averages a 32.1°C January maximum and has recorded 46.2°C, and a shed offers no protection from that, so hoses, belts and seals on a Goulburn Valley shed car are usually older than their odometer suggests.
Which Shepparton car club signs club permits?
The Goulburn Valley Motor Vehicle Drivers Club, based at Grahamvale, is registered with VicRoads for the Club Permit Scheme and has a Club Permit Officer. It is not the only option: VicRoads accepts an endorsement from any club on its approved list, wherever that club happens to sit. Club Plate Co is on that list and works online, so the distance from Grahamvale is not a factor either way.
Does Shepparton’s flood history matter when I buy a club permit car locally?
It is worth a check. The council records major Goulburn River floods in 1916, 1917, 1939, 1956, 1958, 1974, 1993, 2010–12 and October 2022 across the Shepparton, Mooroopna and Murchison areas. Ask where the car was garaged in October 2022, look for silt lines and corrosion inside the sills, and confirm the vehicle carries no statutory write-off record before you pay for anything.
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.