Renewing vehicle registration

You can renew your vehicle registration:

• online
• by calling Access Canberra on 13 22 81
• by visiting an Access Canberra Service Centre.

Other renewal options are on your registration renewal reminder and include:

• BPAY
• Billpay
• in store at any Australia post.

When to renew your registration

You can renew registration within 3 months before the current registration expires.

Check your registration

You can check the status of your registration by searching for the numberplate.

Check a vehicle’s registration status

Renewal notice reminders

You will get a renewal notice reminder by email about 6 weeks before your registration expires.

If you haven't given us your email address, you'll get your renewal by post.

If you've provided your mobile phone number, you will get an SMS reminder 2 days before the renewal is due. If you don’t renew it, you will also get an SMS notification 2 days after it expires.

If you change your address

If you have an ACT driver licence, or an ACT registered vehicle you have 14 days to let us know if your address changes.

This includes if you change your:

• residential address
• postal address
• garage address.

Update your contact details

If you’ve moved to the ACT

You have 3 months to register your vehicle in the ACT.

Make sure you also update your address with Medicare.

Inspections before renewal

The renewal notice will tell you if your vehicle needs an inspection before renewal.

Read more about vehicle inspections.

Renewing online

You can renew registration for most vehicles online if they are still registered or if it has been unregistered for less than 12 months.

Online renewals are processed immediately.

BPAY payments can take up to 3 business days to process and another 21 days for you to receive your Certificate of registration in the mail. The registration date will be backdated to the day you paid.

What you’ll need

Before you start:

• check your contact and address details are correct
• make sure you have a VISA or Mastercard to pay the registration fee.

To renew registration, you’ll need to know the vehicle’s numberplate and either:

• the reference number from your renewal reminder
• the last 4 characters of the VIN/chassis number.

To find the VIN/chassis number, check your registration details.

After you renew, you’ll receive a receipt for payment. We'll post your certificate of registration to your postal address.

Renew vehicle registration

Calculate your vehicle registration

Estimate the cost of your registration fees with our vehicle registration tool.

Lapsed registrations

Once the registration on a vehicle has expired you have 12 months to renew it.

After 12 months the registration lapses and you’ll need to re-establish the registration.

To register a vehicle with a lapsed registration you must:

1. Get a roadworthy inspection.
2. If the vehicles passes inspection, you will get a Certificate of Inspection. On the back of the certificate is an ‘Application to establish registration’.
3. Fill this in and take to an Access Canberra Service Centre to pay a fee and re-establish the registration.
4. If you wish to receive new numberplates, bring the current ones to the Service Centre for surrender.

If your vehicle isn't registered, or your registration has lapsed, you'll need an unregistered vehicle permit to drive the vehicle to the roadworthy inspection. Find out how to get an unregistered vehicle permit.