Changes to heavy vehicle registration

Changes to heavy vehicle registration in 2018 benefited industry by introducing common practices, processes and fees, making it easier and cheaper to operate by reducing cross-border red tape and fleet-management administrative costs.

• Common questions about heavy vehicle registration changes (PDF, 104KB)
• Heavy vehicle registration changes fact sheet (PDF, 732KB)

These changes were rolled out from 1 July 2018 and included the following initiatives:

• a new national heavy vehicle plate and nationally consistent plate fee
• jurisdictions removing heavy vehicle registration labels
• operators having free read-only access to fleet registration details on NHVR Portal
• the option for fleet operators across all jurisdictions to set common registration expiry dates.

Common registration expiry dates

Common expiry dates can be applied for two or more heavy vehicle registrations in all jurisdictions. You must contact your state or territory transport authority to set common expiry dates for your fleet.

Federal Interstate Registration Scheme (FIRS) closure

FIRS is now closed to new entrants and renewals.

Up to 30 June 2019 inclusive, heavy vehicles registered under FIRS will be required to move to an alternative registration scheme upon expiry of FIRS registration. Your local road agency will send out a notification about what to do before your FIRS registration expires. From 1 July 2019, FIRS will be closed to all operators and no FIRS registrations will be valid.

The Federal Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities has more information about the closure of the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme.

State/territory transport authority contact details