How to Change Clubs on a Victorian Club Permit
A club permit cannot be transferred — VicRoads is explicit about that — but you can move a club permit vehicle to a different approved club without giving up the permit, the plates or the expiry date. VicRoads handles the change at a Customer Service Centre, and it asks for three things: a signed letter, a vehicle eligibility and standards declaration from your new club, and a letter confirming you are a member there.
What changing clubs actually changes
Start with the thing VicRoads says first, because it decides the vocabulary: “You can’t transfer a club permit.” What you can do is change which approved club vouches for you and your vehicle. The permit itself carries on. VicRoads sets the process out under “Modify, update or transfer”, alongside changes of address and vehicle details.
| What changes | What stays the same |
|---|---|
| The approved club linked to the vehicle | Your club permit number |
| Who endorses your next renewal notice | Your club permit plates |
| Who you pay membership to | Your permit period and expiry date |
| Who signs a declaration if you modify the vehicle | Your logbook and the days already used |
Because nothing about the vehicle itself changes, VicRoads does not list a new roadworthy certificate, a new inspection or new plates among the requirements, and it publishes no fee for the change anywhere on the page. If a club tells you a club change needs a fresh roadworthy, ask them which VicRoads requirement they are pointing at. The official page is Modify, update or transfer a club permit.
How to move your permit vehicle to another approved club
VicRoads does it at a Customer Service Centre, on the documents below. In practice the club work happens first and the VicRoads visit is the last step.
- Join the new club. Check it is on the VicRoads list of approved car clubs and associations. Join before you resign anywhere, so there is no gap.
- Get a vehicle eligibility and standards declaration from the new club, one for each vehicle you are moving. This is the same form used for a new permit application, and it must come from the new club, not the old one.
- Get a membership letter. VicRoads asks for “a letter from an official at your new club to confirm that you’re a current member”.
- Write the letter to VicRoads. A signed letter telling VicRoads about the change, “including any club permit vehicles you want to link to the new club”. Put your permit number and the vehicle details in it.
- Take it all to a VicRoads Customer Service Centre. The change is made in person. Bring your identification and the permit certificate.
Keep copies of everything. If your next renewal notice arrives still showing the old club, the copies are how you sort it out quickly. Renewal itself is covered on how to renew your club permit, and every form is named on the forms guide.
The 14-day rule, and when to change
Transport Victoria sets the condition that catches people out. To keep a club permit you must “be a member of an approved club or association. If you switch clubs, you can’t have a gap longer than 14 days between your memberships.” Fourteen days is the whole allowance, and it runs on memberships, not on the permit period.
So the order matters. Join the new club, get the declaration and the membership letter, lodge the change with VicRoads, and only then resign from the old club. Doing it the other way round, resigning first while you shop around, is how a permit quietly stops meeting its conditions.
Changing mid-period versus at renewal
Mid-period is the safer choice when your current membership is close to lapsing, when your club has become hard to reach, or when you have bought a second vehicle and want everything with one club. Waiting until renewal saves a trip, since the new club can endorse the renewal notice at the same time as the change is lodged, but it means depending on the old club right up to the last week.
Either way there is no penalty from VicRoads for moving, and no waiting period on the permit itself.
Switching from another Victorian club
The VicRoads process is the same wherever you are coming from. What differs is how much help you get with your side of it. A few of the clubs members most often move between:
- A marque or make club. Often excellent for events and technical knowledge, and some are decades old. The friction is usually scheduling: a physical inspection, a committee meeting, or an officer who signs forms on club nights.
- An online or concierge club. Built for the paperwork rather than the social side, so turnaround is usually fast. Compare the renewal price, not the first-year price, and check whether extra vehicles cost extra.
- A workshop-based club. Inspections happen at a physical site, which suits you if you live nearby and does not if you are three hours away.
- A motorsport or motorcycle club with a social tier. Cheap, and often explicitly without attendance requirements, but the club permit side can be a sideline rather than the focus.
We compare the named Victorian clubs, with their published prices, on compare car clubs in Victoria and in the table on our join page. If your current club works for you, there is no reason to move; the scheme is the same whoever endorses you.
Coming from interstate rather than another Victorian club? The permit does not travel with you, so that is a new application rather than a transfer: moving to Victoria with a car on club rego sets out the order to do it in.
Can you transfer club rego to a new owner?
No, and this is a genuinely different question from the rest of this page. 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 is attached to a person and a club, not to the car.
There are two narrow exceptions worth knowing. If a permit holder dies, VicRoads allows their spouse or domestic partner to take over the permit if they belong to an approved club. And on a sale, the plates may survive even though the permit does not: a new owner can request to keep the club permit plates if the permit is current or expired no more than three months ago, they are a member of the same approved club as the previous owner, and the plate is for the same vehicle.
Everything a buyer and a seller need is on buying or selling a car on a club permit, and if you are checking a car before you buy it, start with how to check a club permit.
Moving your permit vehicle to Club Plate Co
We are on the VicRoads list of approved car clubs and associations, so your permit can move to us the same way it could move to any approved club. Membership is $99 a year with no joining fee, no per-vehicle surcharge and no meetings or attendance requirements.
- Join online and pay the $99 membership.
- Send us your permit details and photos of the vehicle. We check it against the VicRoads club permit rules.
- We issue the vehicle eligibility and standards declaration and the letter confirming your membership, one set per vehicle.
- You take those, with your signed letter, to a VicRoads Customer Service Centre.
After that, we endorse your renewal notice each year as part of the same membership. Your permit number, plates and expiry date do not change. Your endorsed documents come back within one business day of your details and membership being in.
Get started, read how it works, or see what the whole thing costs on pricing.
Changing clubs: your questions
Do I need a new roadworthy certificate to change clubs?
VicRoads does not list one. Its requirements for changing the club a permit vehicle is linked to are a signed letter, a vehicle eligibility and standards declaration from the new club, and a letter confirming your membership. A roadworthy certificate is required when you first apply for a permit on a vehicle made on or after 1 January 1949, not to move an existing permit between clubs.
Do I keep my plates and my permit number when I change clubs?
Yes. Changing clubs is an update to an existing permit, not a new permit, so VicRoads does not issue new plates or a new permit number and the expiry date does not move. The paperwork changes which club endorses the vehicle. If you are cancelling a permit rather than moving it, that is a different process.
How long can I be between clubs?
Fourteen days. Transport Victoria states the condition plainly: you must “be a member of an approved club or association. If you switch clubs, you can’t have a gap longer than 14 days between your memberships.” The safe order is to join the new club first, then resign from the old one once the change is lodged.
Can you transfer a club permit to a new owner in Victoria?
No. Moving a permit between clubs and moving it between people are different things, and only the first is possible. 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.” See buying or selling a club permit car.
Can I move more than one vehicle to the new club at once?
Yes. VicRoads asks for a signed letter “including any club permit vehicles you want to link to the new club” and a vehicle eligibility and standards declaration from your new club “for each vehicle you’re transferring”. One letter, one membership letter, one declaration per vehicle. Club Plate Co charges nothing extra per vehicle.
Should I change clubs now or wait until renewal?
Either works. Changing mid-period is the cleaner option if your current membership is about to lapse, because the 14-day gap rule runs on memberships rather than on the permit. Waiting until renewal means one trip instead of two, but leaves you relying on your old club to endorse a renewal you no longer want from them.
Do I have to tell my old club?
VicRoads does not require it, but it is worth doing. Approved clubs keep a list of the permit vehicles linked to them, and leaving quietly means your name sits on their list after you have gone. Resign in writing once the change is lodged with VicRoads, and keep the reply.
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.