Rego help

Hi Lyndon, It would help if we knew which state or territory you are talking about. As each state and territory have different rules and regulation's.
I have had a work ute rego in QLD and worker was driving it in Newcastle NSW, The police had noticed the ute had been in the area for some months and pulled my worker over, and charged him with driving an unregistered uninsured ute. But the ute still had 8 months QLD rego on it. After speaking to the police, I was told that the ute had been in the same area for more that 6 weeks and my company should have changed the rego. Although the company had offices in Newcastle, Gosford and the Gold Coast. This ute was brought down to Newcastle after the earthquake in December 1989 to help repair the city. But still had to pay the fines. But you can register a car in NSW without a licence.
Andy

When I retire in about 10 years time I will buy a vehicle that I can use to tour the countryside at my leisure. I will live in this vehicle and be both stateless and of no fixed abode as the vehicle will be my home.

The question for me is where and how do I register my vehicle to drive on Australia's roads? I am not breaking the law by having no permanent address yet somehow I have to register my vehicle in a specific State which requires an address etc.

Is there any such thing as a federal registration?

The rules are pretty clear, but sometimes you have to know what you are talking about, because some public servants do not.

I have encountered this level of ignorance on several ocasions, upon speaking to someone who actually knows their business I find them amazed at what I have been told.

If a vehicle is continuoulsy garaged in a particular state for longer than the prescribed period, it must be registered in that state, regardless of where the owner resides.

To sugest anything else is plainly rediculous, because many businesses own vehicles that are used exclusivly in a different state to the registered office.

for a public servant to refuse to register a vehicle that plainly is garraged in their state because the owner is resident elsewhere, is plain and outright bullshit...tell them straight, they don't know what they are talking about and demand to speak to someone higher up the chain.

"The facts are simple...I live at XYZ address I am therefore clearly required to be licenced by that state and I can not be licenced in yours.....this vehicle is permanently garraged at ABC address and is therfore clearly required to be registered in your state deal with it."

There are specific arrangements for people who are on long term travels.....the laws may not seem to accomodate them but, they sort of do and this is sort of allowed for.

If say you are "traveling" in a foreign state, but you do not have a permanent residence you are "traveling" and you intend to return to you "home" in another state you are not resident, neither is the vehicle......that seems to be allowed for....othewise the transport authorities would be up to their armpits in people of a certain age processing registration transfers every 30 days or so.

cheers

There are thousands in your situation, get on any of the caravna or motorhome forums and ask how they deal with it.
I met a bloke the other week in a large motorhome reg in QLD, his trailer on the back in Vic, the car on it reg in WA and his licence in WA.
The NSW RTA will accept a rego (pink slip in NSW) inspection from another state for everything except a heavy vehicle.
What lots of the travellers do is reg trailers, caravans, 5th wheelers ie towed vehicles in vic as it is cheap with no inspection. Vehicles in QLD or WA, just use a friends or relo's address where required.

Hi without saying too much I tried legally to run a tour business in two states NSW and Queensland years ago(seasonal work in both states). I might as well been in Russia and America. I had numerous in depth discusions with senior staff as to my predicament over many months. In the end I really had no practical solution. There are ways around it though. Some more legal than others. However if you register a vehicle in someone else's name (brother, parent, son or mate) and you get pulled over you just say you have borrowed the vehicle. If that is registered in a state without annual inspections even better. This allows you to be Licensed in your state and legal, you can also be the insurer of a vehicle that you don't own so no real burden on the friend registering it in their name. Just one other thing mail redirection really helps either permanent or just the month before registration. lots of renewals can be done on the internet as well.
Good luck Rob

Hi Lyndon,
I have had several vehicles registered in vic and have licence and live in the NT for years. Despite what has been said above, legally the vehicle should be registered in the state where it is garaged and your licence held where you live.
I believe you have just come across some bureaucratic drongo and you may as well talk to a brick wall. Even the SA rego form has the option of different postal address ("complete this section if your registration renewals are to be sent to an address different to the postal address")
I would be calling a different office directly to attempt to deal with another person or going to a higher source such as transport minister, as what you are doing is the right thing.

Cheers Tony.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I get lost in posts that have deviated from your original question - I assume you are talking car is in SA ond you live in the NT?


or is it the other way round?

Part of the issue is that there is an over simplistic view of peoples lives.
"They" think that people live at one fixed address and keep all their stuff there....they have to be able to cope with people spending time and keeping stuff at a place other then their "main residence"...and they definitely can.

They will have a lot of difficulty with the concept of "no fixed abode".


This issue has been well and truly been exercised between QLD and NSW, because there is a lot of cross border stuff going on there are lots of people with holiday homes or caravans located in the other state with various vehicles permenently stored there, and then you have the annual migration of the turtes ( caravanners) from NSW into QLD in winter, and QLD to NSW in the summer.

If ya realy want to get into it ya have to get into the wording in the legeslation which is pretty clear, in addition to the "arrangements" between the states.

What you need to address are the concepts of residence and uasage.

and different concepts apply to a person and a thing.

In this day and age everything requires PROOF.

If you are a RESIDENT of a state, you are required to be licenced there ( clear, plain and simple), AND you must provide details of your address and PROOF that you reside there. When you apply for a licence you will be required to provide proof of identity......part of that proof of identity can be such things as social security cards, bank statemants, rental agreements, rates notices, phone and power bills.

Part of proof of identity is proof of where you "reside". If that gets complicated like you are "of no fixed abode", or you don't have any regular bills or bank accounts, you are likley to have a great many problems in this society.
You are obviouly some sort of criminal and should be in jail......

You must be able to provide proof of a single fixed physical "primary place of residence" on land at any given time.......how you do that is your problem......the government does not care.......if you cant do that you must be some sort of criminal and should be in jail.

Lots of people have problems with the above, particularly yachties living aboard at anchor or free mourings........but ya gota come up with a place and proof or you will have a very difficult life.

So that sorts your "primary place of residence"... and those are the words to use when dealing with a public servant.....that is where you are legally required to be licenced.

If you are in another state for ANY period of time and you maintain that remains your "primary place of residence", you have to be licenced there.

now when you "travel" it gets complicated.

If you do not stay in one place for long enough to produce proof that you reside there, it can not be your "primary place of residence".....because to process a change of address application you need PROOF.

If however you stay in a single caravan park for 3 months, you are skating on thin ice.



The vehicles are a different thing.......if they are kept or used in a certain location for longer than the prescribed period, they must be registered in that state..that too is clear, plain and simple.

This is a very common case where people keep vehicles or boats at their regular holiday location.
Many people keep cars, boats and caravans in other states.

Again to register that vehicle in that location you need PROOF, both of your identity and that the vehicle is "garraged" at that location.

It all keeps comming back to PROOF.
If ya don't have it you need to get it or generate it.

So if you rock up to the transport department with nothing more than a licence from another state saying you want a vehicle registered here......you will have trouble.

If you have a holiday house, you need to turn up with a power bill, a rates notice or a lease agreement.

Then you can say..... I am a resident of xyz state as proven by my licence and medicare card and this tax return, and my vehicle is reqired under section xyz of your states regulations to be registered at this address where it is permanently garraged, proven by this document here.

As the relationship gets more obtuse.......it all gets harder to prove.
It may require statutary declarations, lease agreements or some such.


It all revolves arround the PROOF.

If the public servant does not understand......the qusetion is....."What PROOF do I need to produce to support this application?".

Believe me some public servants will not cope well with this...but if you keep hammering " regulations require" and " this proof shows" you should eventually get there........

Now to the deal of operating a business in two states.....again the government is blinkered into this whole adresses thing.

To operate a business you have to be able to show a permanent physical address of that business in that state......otherwise you must be a criminal and should be in jail...you also have to have various business regestrations, licences AND workers compensation in that state.

You can operate in one state and do work in another ( a little complicated at times), but you better be blowing back across the border pretty regularly.

Before you embark of such "suspect activity", you need to arrange your affairs so that you can produce the PROOF that is required to quietly get on with your life.

You may be nearly permanently traveling and have a free shed on a relatives place at Outerwhykicksamoocow, where you store your stuff...you could call that your permanent residence.....you may not need power there, but it could be worth getting it put on simply so you have a power bill to show as PROOF

Ya get where its all going.

You have to be able to show a permanent physical " primary place of residence" and produce PROOF, to do just about anything in this country.

cheers

OK, sorted! Finally got someone with a brain! All that had to be done was to log on with the old licence number and change the details back to living in SA then it allowed an online registration. So easy, if only a lot of the public servants weren't such a bunch of .................

Thanks for everyone's input.

Cheers

Lyndon

In N.S.W. the cops will ask you where are you registered to vote?

As an example, where I live, we are close to S.A. In S.A. you don't need to have the vehicle checked mechanically each year, after the five year period expires from new.

So, we see a lot of wrecks being driven around town with S.A. plates attached, and I know they are local residents. Of course they will say that they have a rental property or a unit in Adelaide, so they are residents of S.A.

Well hello, don't have a prang, because the first thing the cops will ask you after you produce your driver's licence is, where are you enrolled to vote. If you say N.S.W. then you find yourself making a substantial contribution to the Barry O'Farrell Appeal, and a red or yellow sticker on your windscreen accompanied by a defective vehicle notice.

In addition, I recall being advised that the caravan etc. being towed must be registered in the same state as the tug, otherwise you void any 3rd party insurance should something happen.

As far as I'm aware the only state that will permit you to register a vehicle or hold a driver's licence with an interstate address, is Qld.

If you move from interstate into N.S.W. and you have a licence & vehicle rego. from that state, you have three months grace, then it must reregister the vehicle in N.S.W. & change your licence over. This was brought in some years ago so allow members of the ADF who get moved about a fair bit a little bit of latitude.

I had the issue of trying to re-new rego into my name after having had bought a vehicle and my licence being from another state..after explaining I work between the two states they just classified me as a dual resident and allowed it

The rule was that you were licensed at your primary place of residence and your car had to be registered at the same place. That's what we followed for years. When did it change. And I am not interested in business situations. Full time nomads and gypsies, including those away for that "leeway three months or whatever" - that's another issue.

That was easy.

Phil