Unregistered vehicle permits

Somebody has bought a paddock car at Corowa, or the daily driver has died in the Dean Street car park and has to reach a workshop. Either way the vehicle is unregistered and there is a public road between where it sits and where it needs to be. The options are a permit, a trailer, or somebody with a tilt tray. On this stretch of the border the right answer changes depending on which side of the Murray the trip starts, because one of the two states will not sell a permit for a journey that begins in the other.

The figures below come from Transport for NSW, Service NSW, VicRoads and Transport Victoria, current as at August 2026, and from the NSW Road Rules 2014. Government fees are indexed and change, usually on 1 July.

What a permit actually is

An unregistered vehicle permit, a UVP in both states, lets one nominated vehicle make one nominated trip on a public road without being registered. It is not short term registration. Service NSW states flatly that a UVP cannot be used as a substitute for full registration. Transport Victoria says the same and goes further: a Victorian permit cannot be used for social or domestic purposes at all.

Neither state inspects the vehicle first. Both make the applicant declare it is safe, in New South Wales through the Vehicle Suitable for Safe Use Declaration, form 1245, and in Victoria through a declaration inside the online form.

Neither state will issue a permit for a vehicle that is currently registered, recorded as stolen, or written off. Victoria also refuses one where registration is suspended over an unrepaired safety issue, or the vehicle is under a Sheriff's Office sanction. New South Wales refuses one for a vehicle carrying a commercial load, other than plant moving a load, or modified without a compliance certificate.

Plates come off in both states before the vehicle moves. In New South Wales, if registration has been cancelled they must be handed in before a permit is issued, unless the vehicle was on seasonal registration.

The New South Wales permit

Transport for NSW lists the unregistered vehicle permit at $28, and a replacement permit at the same $28. That is the published figure, current as at August 2026. Registration fees are reviewed annually and generally rise with the Consumer Price Index; they went up 2.65 per cent on 1 July 2026. The NSW permit page states that the permit fee includes CTP insurance, the green slip.

A NSW permit covers more shapes of trip than a Victorian one. It can be a single journey from A to B, a return journey from A to B and back to A, or a run from A to B to C to D defined over a number of days up to a maximum of 28. It can also cover a specific vehicle and purpose for up to 28 days, the example Transport for NSW gives being a combine harvester used for harvesting, which matters if what needs moving is not a car at all but something on a block outside Lockhart.

The permit is valid only for the specified trip and the time actually required to complete it by the most direct route. Transport for NSW says permits are not issued to cover extra days where a vehicle may be using the roads. A permit is not a fortnight of leeway.

Applying in person takes the completed Application for Unregistered Vehicle Permit, proof of identity, the safe use declaration and payment. Post and email applications to Service NSW at Parkes are open only to people who have previously held NSW registration or a licence, and take up to seven days to come back. Anyone moving a car this week should walk into a service centre.

The Victorian permit

Victoria does not publish a flat price. VicRoads says the cost depends on the permit's length, the type of vehicle, and the address where it is garaged. The total is a permit fee plus a Transport Accident Commission charge, and VicRoads sorts garage postcodes into three TAC risk zones, high, medium and low, which is what moves the number. There are no concessions. The figure is generated during the online application, which is the only way to find out what a given trip costs.

Victorian durations are tighter. A permit to prepare a vehicle for registration in Victoria runs 1 to 28 days. A single trip or journey permit runs 1 to 7 days and covers one journey by the most direct route only. Construction zone and tracked vehicle permits run up to 365 days and cannot be bought online.

Two Victorian conditions catch people out. The permit expires at midnight on the nominated day, and the vehicle may only be used on the road between sunrise and sunset. A Saturday morning run to a wrecker at Wangaratta is fine; a Sunday evening drive home on the same permit is not. The second is refunds: a Victorian permit can only be cancelled, changed or refunded before the start date, and once that date has passed there is no refund and no change.

Only preparation for registration and single trip permits can be bought online. Everything else means ringing 13 11 71 or fronting a VicRoads customer service centre, and a card payment fee applies.

Where the rules differ

The border problem, stated plainly

Transport Victoria is unambiguous: a Victorian UVP can only be issued for trips commencing in Victoria, and it is the driver's responsibility to demonstrate that the journey is covered by the permit. Transport Victoria also states that to drive a vehicle from another state, other than Western Australia, into Victoria, the permit must come from the state where the journey begins.

Transport for NSW runs the mirror rule with one extra door open. A NSW permit will not be issued where the journey is entirely within another state or territory. But a NSW permit can be issued for a journey that starts in another state and ends in New South Wales.

So for a car sitting in Wodonga that needs to reach a workshop in Albury, five kilometres and one bridge away, either state can supply the paperwork: Victoria because the trip starts there, New South Wales because it ends there. For a car sitting in Albury that needs to reach Wodonga, only New South Wales can. A Victorian permit bought for that trip is worthless, and no VicRoads counter can repair it afterwards.

Both states recognise each other's permits. Transport for NSW says permits from interstate are recognised in NSW and that the conditions of the issuing state's permit must be followed while driving in NSW. Which means a Victorian permit crossing into Albury still carries the Victorian sunrise to sunset rule with it. The permit does not become a NSW permit at the bridge.

What insurance a permit does and does not give

In New South Wales the permit fee includes CTP, and Transport for NSW is specific that CTP only covers roads and road-related areas, not private property. Reverse the paddock car into a fence on somebody's block and CTP is not part of the conversation. In Victoria the TAC charge inside the permit fee buys transport accident cover for that trip, which is why Transport Victoria recommends buying a permit rather than relying on the drive-to-registration exemptions.

Neither permit covers the vehicle itself, or damage it does to another person's property. A permit is personal injury cover and a legal right to be on the road. It is not comprehensive insurance and it is not third party property.

When a tow is the cheaper answer

For short trips it often is, and the border changes what a tow may cost.

NSW Fair Trading sets maximum charges for light vehicle towing under the Tow Truck Regulation 2020, valid for 2026 to 2027 and excluding GST. Accident towing work is capped at $320, each subsequent tow at $116, and outside the defined Sydney metropolitan area, $6 per kilometre for distance beyond 20 kilometres by the most direct route. A 20 per cent surcharge applies outside business hours, 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday excluding public holidays.

Victoria caps nothing on this side of the river. The Accident Towing Services Act 2007 regulates accident tow charges in metropolitan Melbourne only, where the base charge is $289.60 including GST for the first 8 kilometres and $4.60 per kilometre beyond it. Transport Victoria states there are no set charges for accident towing in regional and rural Victoria, only a requirement under section 212I that charges be reasonable.

Both schedules cover accident towing, not a tilt tray hired to shift a non-runner out of a shed, which is a commercial quote in either state. On the Victorian side there is no published ceiling to point at, so the only real protection is ringing three operators, and the section 212I test expressly weighs what nearby operators charge for similar work.

Towing it yourself

Victoria publishes its towing rules in plain language. New South Wales leaves them in the road rules, which is why the Victorian version is easier to find and the NSW version is easier to breach by accident.

Transport Victoria confirms an unregistered vehicle can be moved on a trailer, behind a registered vehicle, or by a towing company, with no UVP for the towed car. Towing it behind a registered vehicle on a full or P2 licence requires a flag at least 30 centimetres square on the rope, chain or wire, a maximum of 4 metres between the vehicles or 2.5 metres if one is a motorcycle, working brakes on the towed vehicle where a rope, chain or wire is used, and a person licensed for that vehicle behind its wheel. P1 holders cannot tow at all unless it is for their employer at the employer's request, for agricultural, pastoral or similar work or commercial fishing, or with an experienced driver beside them and Driver Under Instruction plates front and back.

The NSW equivalents sit in Road Rules 2014 rule 294-3: no more than 4 metres between the two vehicles, or 3 metres if either is a motor bike, a person licensed to drive the towed vehicle in charge of it, a red flag or other suitable object displayed between them where they are joined by a rope, chain or wire, and at night a red light on the towed vehicle facing following traffic plus a white light to make the flag visible.

The number that decides whether the trailer plan is legal is in rule 294-2. For combinations under 4.5 tonnes, the laden weight of what is being towed must not exceed the capacity of the towing attachment, or the maximum towed weight the tow vehicle's manufacturer specifies. Where the manufacturer has specified nothing, the limit becomes one and a half times the unladen weight of the towing vehicle if the towed vehicle has properly working brakes, or the unladen weight of the towing vehicle if it does not. A 1,700 kilogram hatchback on a 600 kilogram car trailer is 2,300 kilograms of laden trailer, which rules out most unbraked trailers and a fair number of tow bars. Check the plate on the tow bar, not the brochure for the ute.

One Victorian trap sits alongside this. A UVP can be issued for an unregistered boat trailer carrying a boat on a single trip, but Transport Victoria states a load must not be towed or carried on any other unregistered trailer issued with a UVP. A borrowed car trailer with no registration is not fixed by buying it a permit.

What getting it wrong costs

In New South Wales, driving or parking an unregistered light vehicle on a road or road-related area is an $818 fine, and driving or parking an uninsured one is a separate $818. Both commonly apply, because an unregistered vehicle is usually also uninsured. Parking an unregistered trailer on a road is $227, and the last registered operator can be fined $818 for causing or permitting the use of an unregistered vehicle even without being behind the wheel. Police can also seize the plates or the vehicle. Victoria expresses its penalties in penalty units under the Road Safety Act 1986, and a Victorian penalty unit is $209.10 for the 2026 to 2027 year.

Either way the fine is larger than any permit, and larger than most local tows.

Before booking anything

Work out which state the vehicle is standing in, not which state it is going to, because that is what decides who can issue the permit. Then ring the inspection station or the mechanic and get a firm date, because both permits are priced and dated around a trip that happens on a particular day, and Victoria will not refund one that has started.

If the vehicle is headed for a wrecker rather than a workshop, ask whether they collect. Plenty of yards in Albury and Wodonga will pick up a complete car free or close to it, which removes the permit question altogether. A car removal booking is usually cheaper than a permit plus fuel plus the risk of a paired set of $818 fines, and always cheaper than finding out at the bridge that the permit came from the wrong side of it.

Sources

Checked on 2026-08-25. Government fees and rules are indexed and revised, so open the source before you rely on a figure.

• nsw.gov.au
• service.nsw.gov.au
• transport.vic.gov.au
• vicroads.vic.gov.au
• legislation.nsw.gov.au
• justice.vic.gov.au