It’s one of those questions that seems too small to bother a lawyer with, but too risky to just guess at – your rego has lapsed, the car’s barely running, and you just need to get it a few kilometres down the road to your mechanic. Surely that’s fine, right? You’re not doing the school run in it, you’re trying to get it fixed. Unfortunately, in Western Australia, the answer isn’t as relaxed as most people assume.
The Short Answer
No – you cannot legally drive an unlicensed (unregistered) vehicle on a WA public road, including the trip to a mechanic, without specific authorisation first. It doesn’t matter if it’s two streets away, if you drive slowly, or if you’re only doing it once. The moment your vehicle licence expires, the vehicle is treated as unregistered from that point on, and driving it on a road, verge, or car park is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1974.
Why WA Treats This More Strictly Than People Expect
A lot of the confusion comes from other states, where some jurisdictions allow a short, unpermitted drive to a repairer for registration purposes. WA doesn’t have that carve-out. Two things make it a genuinely bigger deal here than a simple paperwork slip-up:
- Your CTP insurance lapses with your registration. Compulsory Third Party cover, which pays out if you injure someone in a crash, stops the moment your licence expires. Drive unregistered and you’re also driving uninsured for injury claims.
- Number plate recognition cameras make it easy to catch. You don’t need to be pulled over for a random check anymore. Automated systems can flag an unregistered plate as you drive past, and the fine turns up later.
The Legal Way to Move It: A Temporary Movement Permit
If the car genuinely needs to go to a workshop – say, for a repair that’s required before it will pass a roadworthy inspection – the correct process is to apply for a Temporary Movement Permit (sometimes called an Unregistered Vehicle Permit) through the Department of Transport WA before you drive anywhere. A few things to know about how it works:
What the permit actually covers
- It authorises one specific, pre-approved trip – not general driving.
- You need to nominate the purpose (repair, inspection, roadworthy test) and the route.
- It won’t cover detours to the shops, a mate’s place, or work on the way.
- It has to be arranged in advance. It’s not something you can produce after the fact if you’re stopped.
For a lot of people, once they factor in the permit application, the mechanic’s diagnosis fee, the cost of the repair itself, and then re-registration on top, the maths on an old or already-struggling vehicle stops adding up. That’s usually the point where selling starts to look like the simpler option.
What Actually Affects the Value of an Old or Damaged Car
If you’re weighing up repair versus sale, it helps to know roughly what a buyer is looking at when they price a vehicle in this condition:
- Whether it runs and drives – not essential, but it changes the assessment.
- Completeness – an engine, gearbox, and major components still in place are worth more than a stripped shell.
- Extent of damage – accident, flood, or fire damage is factored in, but doesn’t rule a car out on its own.
- Make and model – parts demand varies a lot between common and less common vehicles.
- Metal and scrap value – this fluctuates with the market.
There are a few things that will stop a sale outright, though, regardless of condition: a vehicle reported stolen, one still owing money under finance, or a body with no chassis. Beyond that, running or not, deregistered, written off, accident-damaged – it’s generally still saleable.
Selling It Instead of Repairing It
If the unregistered car isn’t worth putting money into, you can skip the permit and the mechanic altogether by having it removed rather than driven. Cash For Cars Perth collects vehicles from anywhere across the Perth metro area (Bunbury and areas further south aren’t covered), and because the car is towed rather than driven, none of the registration or permit issues above come into play. Towing is free, and if you call before midday it can often be arranged the same day, usually within two to three hours.
Cash For Cars Perth pays up to $9,999 for cars, utes, trucks, vans, and 4WDs in any condition – running, non-running, accident-damaged, flood or fire-damaged, deregistered, or written off. Payment is made in cash or by instant OSKO bank transfer, on the spot, before the vehicle leaves your property.
What You’ll Need on the Day
- Valid photo ID (you don’t need to be the registered owner to sell the vehicle).
- Your number plates removed beforehand – in WA, plates stay with you, not the car.
- To lodge a Notification of Disposal with the WA Department of Transport after the sale, confirming you’re no longer responsible for the vehicle.
Vehicles are taken to the licensed wrecking yard at 5 Hantke Place, Welshpool, where they’re dismantled and recycled properly rather than left to sit.
Get a Quote
If your car’s unregistered and the cost of getting it roadworthy again isn’t worth it, there’s no need to sort out a movement permit just to get a mechanic’s opinion. Call Cash For Cars Perth on 0420 262 651 for a free quote – open Monday to Saturday, 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM – and if it stacks up, same-day pickup can usually be arranged from anywhere in Perth.