Registration charges for heavy vehicles | National Transport Commission

Current registration charges for heavy vehicles

Registration charges applicable from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2020 (inclusive of both the roads and regulatory components of the charges).

If you believe you have been charged the wrong amount, please contact the road agency in your state or territory.

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Division 1—Load carrying vehicles ($)

Vehicle type	2 axle	3 axle	4 axle	5 or more axles
Trucks
Truck (type 1)	607	950	965	965
Truck (type 2)	975	1,142	1,163	1,163
Short combination truck	1,005	1,179	2,042	2,042
Medium combination truck	9,554	9,554	10,320	10,320
Long combination truck	13,208	13,208	13,208	13,208
Prime movers
Short combination prime mover	1,124	4,512	4,820	4,820
Multi-combination prime mover	11,333	11,333	12,466	12,466

Division 2—Load carrying trailers ($)

Charges per axle	Single	Tandem axle group	Tri-axle group	Quad-axle group and above
Trailer type
Pig trailer	667	640	630	626
Dog trailer	667	640	630	626
Semi trailer	667	806	571	429
B-double lead trailer and B-triple lead and middle trailers	667	806	571	429
Converter dolly or low loader dolly	55	28	18	14

Division 3—Buses ($)

Bus type	2 axles	3 axles	4 or more axles
Bus (type 1)	513
Bus (type 2)	643	2,674	2,674
Articulated bus		640	640

Division 4—Special purpose vehicles ($)

Special purpose vehicle (type P) = No charge

Special purpose vehicle (type T) = 502

Special purpose vehicle (type O) = Calculated using the formula: 577+(375 x number of axles over 2)

Notes:

Truck (type 1) means a rigid truck not exceeding a Mass Rating for Charging (MRC) of 12 tonnes (2 axles), 16.5 tonnes (3 axles) or 20 tonnes (4 or more axles)
Truck (type 2) means a rigid truck exceeding a MRC of 12 tonnes (2 axles), 16.5 tonnes (3 axles) or 20 tonnes (4 or more axles)
Short combination truck means a truck nominated to haul one trailer where, according to the nomination: (a) the combination has 6 axles or fewer; and (b) the maximum total mass that is legally allowable for the combination is 42.5 tonnes or less.
See the Heavy Vehicle Charges Model Law for complete definitions of vehicle types.
All axles on a dog trailer are treated as part of one group for registration charging purposes. For example, a dog trailer with a single axle at the front and a tandem axle at the rear is treated as a tri-axle group for charging purposes.

Determining heavy vehicle charges

We calculate and recommend heavy vehicle registration and road user charges to the Transport and Infrastructure Council (the Council) based on the pricing principles set by the Council and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).

The principles are:

full recovery of allocated infrastructure costs while minimising both the over and under recovery from any class of vehicle
cost effectiveness of pricing instruments
transparency
the need to balance administrative simplicity, efficiency and equity (e.g. impact on regional and remote communities/access)
the need to have regard to other pricing applications such as light vehicle charges, tolling and congestion
ongoing cost recovery in aggregate
the removal of cross subsidies between vehicle classes.

Annual adjustments

To ensure that heavy vehicle charges keep pace with road spending programs, an annual adjustment formula is applied in July to the previous year’s registration and road user charges. This formula is contained in the Heavy Vehicle Charges Model Law.

Determinations

In some years, we recommend a new set of charges to the Council based on updated methodologies and data. These recommendations are called ‘determinations’. A determination sets a new baseline upon which the annual adjustment formula can be applied to in future years.

Council decisions

On 22 November 2019, the Council identified a preference for charges to rise by 2.5 per cent in 2020–21 and 2.5 per cent in 2021–22, subject to consideration by governments where necessary.

The Council also directed the NTC to undertake a determination to review the method for calculating heavy vehicle charges.

On 10 November 2017, the Council agreed to freeze heavy vehicle charges at 2017–18 levels for a two year period (2018–19 and 2019–20). This decision recognised the need for governments to continue to invest in infrastructure to support heavy vehicle productivity, and the need to provide revenue and price certainty to road management agencies and heavy vehicle operators as heavy vehicle road reform is accelerated.

As part of this decision, the regulatory component of registration charges was adjusted to reflect the revised National Heavy Vehicle Regulator budget for 2018–19 and 2019–20 to incorporate industry funding of the new National Heavy Vehicle Registration System.

The PAYGO model

Australia uses a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) model which determines annual registration and fuel-based road user charges. PAYGO was introduced in Australia in 1992 to:

help recover the marginal or attributable costs of road wear and tear for each heavy vehicle type
recover a share of common road costs which benefit all road users, such as street lighting, rest bays and signage
ensure heavy vehicles pay their share of road spending.

Revenue recovered through heavy vehicle charges helps governments provide better and safer roads.

Around 40 per cent of heavy vehicle costs are recovered as state and territory registration fees, with the balance paid through a fuel-based road user charge which is collected by the Commonwealth Government.

To calculate heavy vehicle charges using the PAYGO model, we use the latest heavy vehicle and trailer population data as well as seven year averages for both road expenditure and vehicle usage data. This data averaging ensures that charges do not change significantly in response to short-term changes in expenditure or vehicle use.

For more information, see the PAYGO model user manual.