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50% Discount off 12 Month Vehicle Registration for Victorian Trade Apprentices

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If you're an eligible Victorian trade apprentice, don't forget to apply for the discount when your Rego renewal turns up this year…maximum saving is $385.70…that's a weeks wages if you're a first year apprentice!

About the discount

If you’re eligible for the trade apprentice discount you can get 50% off your 12-month car registration and Transport Accident Charge renewal fee.

Am I eligible?

You’re eligible for this discount (or a refund of the discounted amount) if you meet the following criteria:

  • you’re an apprentice registered with the Victorian Registrations Qualification Authority (VRQA) in an approved course (External link)
  • you’re using your own car, ute or van (up to 4.5 tonne GVM) for approved work purposes (we’ll need to verify this with your employer)
  • you hold a current Victorian driver licence
  • your registration renewal is due on or after 1 January 2016 – if your renewal is due earlier than this date, you’ll need to wait for your next renewal to get this discount.

Please note, this discount is not applicable for:

  • 6 month registration renewals
  • applicants with expired, cancelled or suspended licences
  • more than one car per applicant
  • cars registered in someone else’s name
  • cars with any other concessions (except for hybrid and electric passenger vehicle concessions) - you can apply to have your concession removed by calling 13 11 71.
How to apply

Gather your information

  1. To apply online you’ll need to provide your:
  • First name, last name, date of birth, email and phone number
  • VRQA registration number (you can usually find this on letters from the VRQA or you can call your Apprenticeship Support Network Provider)
  • registration number of your car that you use for work
  • driver licence number.

2.. Complete an online application

If you've received a registration renewal in the post, you can apply for a discount online.

Once your application has been processed, we’ll send you an email to let you know the outcome. If your application is approved, you can pay the discounted amount online straight away, or you can wait until you receive your updated registration renewal via post.

If you‘re registering a new car (or re-registering an unregistered car in your name) on or after 1 January 2016, you’ll need to pay your full registration fee and apply for a refund of the discounted amount.

Related Stores

VicRoads
VicRoads

closed Comments

  • +11

    I don't live in Victoria so it doest effect me, but this a rare post that actually will save people money on things they actually need.

    Great job, OP!

  • +2

    Great Post for Vic Trade Apprentices that don't already know about this.

    The ozbargain force is strong within this one !

    • -1

      The discount is mentioned at the very top of the registration notice in large font, so it would be hard for someone not to know about it once they receive a renewal notice.

  • Finished my apprenticeship 2 weeks ago! Rego due in 2 weeks! :(

    • Still a great deal.

      +Vote from me!

    • Apply anyway. There is a delay in data being processed as there are multiple stakeholders involved and the systems being close to end of life. You don't have much to lose.

  • NSW pls!

  • +1

    That is a good news. Why just Victoria? Other states should do the same or similar..

  • More cash for those who arguably get ripped off (look at apprentice wages and your jaw will drop).

    Tradies WILL get the ladies now they have a weeks wages in their back pocket!

    • +8

      Getting paid to study, then going on to a lucrative career with benefits? Sounds like a tough gig..

  • +15

    I don't understand why trade apprentices who earn money get this discount but uni students accumulating a hecs debt don't get any subsidy

    • +4

      Yes, seems a bizarre scheme to me and the apprentice will probably earn more than the uni student afterwards too.

      Supply and demand in action. Beats me why someone who barely does a full years study for their career earns the kind of silly money trades get.

      • -7

        Government wants more people to be rich in future. If more people become those poor professional office monkeys wearing suits and earn peanuts the standard of life in Australia goes down. Those apprentices are set to be millionaires very soon. After that government doesn't have to help them with rego they can pay few regos in full by them selves.

        • +2

          The government would be proud of having a typical Aussie and our future generations speak with your logic and grammar skills. You're an ambassador to the world!

          /sarcasm off

          (just in case you thought I was actually being serious)

      • +2

        I guess it's exactly what you stated… Supply and demand.

        No one is paying tradies $100/hr because they are generous, is because that's what the going rate is.

        Unfortunately if you take up a degree in an unwanted field, unless you are a real stand out, you'll probably feel the negative effects of supply and demand.

        • yeah completely agree with you, the only thing that is unfair is all that minimum wage crap

          everything should be open wages and let the market determine what the pay should be

        • @hockysa:

          You suggest open wages when people themselves don't know what they are worth? (I'm considering some threads I've seen on ozbargain of people earning more or less than their colleagues and what they should do).

          Exploitation will be enormous! You can't apply rational economic theory so simply when it comes to the human condition

        • @docholliday: that's also true but what might be arguably considered exploitation could in all fairness be a reasonable wage.

          alternatively there could possibly be one absolute minimum wage and everything beyond that would be dictated by the market

        • @hockysa:

          Humans do not make decisions analogous to a rational market. Ever heard of 'Allais's Paradox'? It showed that even professionals involved in economic policy when given a preference regarding rational choice showed that even their choice on the given problem contradicted the utility theory of markets they espouse.

          I agree with you in that here is no clear solution. The topic is still contentious today and in no way am I deriding your thoughts. People aren't programmed to think statistically and rationally. If we were, we wouldn't be having so many people vying for degrees in oversaturated markets or educating themselves in fields with lack of future prospects.

          Anyone can shift the reference point so something can be considered fair and reasonable. Lawyers do it all the time for the wealthy and so do lobbyists.

        • @docholliday: honestly.. You've taken this far beyond my knowledge that I'm able to comment.

          The conclusion I'm drawing now that is we live in an imperfect world and I'm not high enough in the food chain to make this decisions

    • -1

      Even as an apprentice $385.70 a week sounds abnormally low? That's $77 a day if you work 5 days. Doesn't even sound legal!

      • as an apprentice mechanic its not uncommon to be getting paid as low as $10 an hour.

        I don't understand how simpler mindless jobs get paid so much more and still have people complaining that their minimum wage is apparently too low

        • +2

          because those simpler mindless jobs dont have a career path.

          What shits me more is getting basic servicing done by that guy and then being charged 100 bucks an hour for it

        • @Matt P: 50/50 on pricing

          tools cost alot, tools need to be replaced, serviceable items cost money, then there's rent to pay, mechanic needs to be paid then the business takes whats left

          plus people still want guarantees if anything goes wrong

          all adds up

      • When I started my apprenticeship I was on $111 a week. Mind you that was 27 years ago☺ If only I would have finished it I would have been earning the big bucks now😉

    • +4

      I have one child in each of these scenarios at the moment so this is from my experience…Son has just finished his first year of his apprenticeship after completing year 12.
      He needed a car straight away (thankfully he had saved money from his part time job whilst at school so we went halves.
      Add comprehensive insurance (a must), petrol (spends at least a quarter of his weekly pay here), TAFE fees (his employer paid these, but many of the apprentices he studies with have to pay their own), tools (mega $$$$), safety clothes etc

      For the first 2 years you can't even write your expenses off because you're barely earning over the tax-free threshold, so you get nothing back.
      First year wages was $375 per week, now in 2nd year he feels like he's won the lotto with an extra $95 each week.

      Yes he'll earn a decent wage as an electrician once qualified, but for kids straight out of school they need all the help they can get NOW while they are earning peanuts.

      In contrast my uni student has very little to pay out up front besides textbooks and her fees are HECS. Still manages to work a couple of days each week and extra hours during the seemingly endless months of uni holidays. She doesn't get or need any subsidies.

      • i feel for you but its not the hardest thing in the world

        needed a car straight away , sure he had a good couple of years to save money , i finished year 10 and caught the train as i was not old enough for a licence and when i was i bought a car out of my own money

        full comp insurance, not essential as bought a cheap car and took 3rd party

        1/4 of his wage in petrol, gee where are they driving ? to the moon and back ?

        barely making tax free threshold, yeh think yourself lucky, tax free threshold has been raised by the govt , back in the day it was about $6K and then you paid tax , so think of all the dollars saved in tax

        most kids as apprentices are still living at home

        • Not hard to spend that much on fuel.

          375 divided by 4 is about 95 dollars a week. I do nearly $150 every week in fuel.

        • +2

          No it's not the hardest thing in the world, it's just a fact that apprentices can have a lot of expenses especially when they first start out compared to a uni student, and that's what I'm highlighting. It really has nothing to do with who earns more in 4 years time as others mentioned above.

          Things are obviously different to 'back in the day'.
          Apprenticeships are harder to come by now and most employers won't even consider you if you don't have your licence and a car.
          Comprehensive insurance is a must (his car is 12 years old) if you can't afford to replace something that is essential to you performing your job.

          I don't know any apprentice electrician that would be able to get from job to job, with their tools on public transport! And yes Melbourne is a big place and he can work on various sites in one day so I'm not exaggerating about petrol.

          Tax free threshold has been raised for everyone so we all benefit from that. And as a 1st or 2nd year apprentice you would not have been earning that much over the tax free threshold as wages were probably less than $200 a week…it's all relative.

  • -7

    I'm already receiving half price rego for being disabled. Would this work on a 2nd car?

    • comment withdrawn

  • Had an apprentice carpenter in the family… he started at about $10 an hour I think.

    • He was expected to have a vehicle from day one, and was expected to be the one to go to Bunnings or wherever when there was stuff needed on site. He also traveled a good distance each day in the car depending on where the job site was.
    • It's expected for apprentices to gradually build their own toolkit and buy their own tools, and they aren't cheap to buy (or insure).
    • He worked hard on site 4 days a week and did one day at TAFE
    • He didn't have the option of living at home, he had to pay city rent.

    To make ends meet, he would try and pick up casual work on the weekend, and he was always tired and sore.

    I don't know how an apprentice could afford to live independently in a city on their wages alone. I also think something that a lot of people who work in an office don't understand is that for many tradies, there will be a physical limitation on how long they can do their job. 4 years is a long time to be working 5 days a week and not earn as much as an entry level call centre operator with no training.

    • When they get too old for the more physically demanding aspects of the job they can use - wait for it - the apprentices! You would hope as they gain experience they also work out how to use other people in their team, they become the brains, the younger ones the brawn.

  • There's so much animosity towards tradies from uni students in this thread…I think they need to duke it out.

    • If uni students were given the discount, do you think there would be animosity towards the uni students from apprentices?

      • I don't have my crystal ball with me to tell you…but if they did, they should still duke it out.

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