Unregistered cars on our roads
Mon 02 April 2007
John Hammond, Journalism
Sunshine Coast motorists are facing heavy fines and potentially, financial ruin, if disregard for vehicle registration requirements is as widespread as it appears.
Motor vehicle registration fees are an irritating monetary burden on many motorists and a large annual source of State Government revenue. Queensland’s Treasury Department estimates vehicle registrations will generate $279 million in the 2006-07 financial year.
This decision may come at a disastrous cost if their car is involved in an accident causing personal injury to a third party.
An informal car park survey of the Sunshine Coast University campus on March 1, 2007 revealed 52 vehicles in the 1000 capacity car park were unregistered or displaying an out-of-date registration label. 
This raw data suggests 5.2 per cent of the cars were unregistered. Eleven vehicles had no label, eight were registered to 2006 and one to May, 2005. Twelve were out of registration by less than one week.
A university could be considered an atypical environment compared with wider society, comprising a number of financially struggling students, but some detected vehicles were in the staff-only parking section.
There were also ancillary staff, workmen and on survey day, parents attending a sporting event at the university.
To confirm this culture of non-registration a survey at a local shopping centre identified six out of 35 cars, or 17.1 per cent, as being unregistered. One was last registered in 2005 while another had no label.
Queensland Police Service Senior Constable Peter Dickens provided penalty details. For not showing current registration labels the penalty is $60, for displaying expired labels - $60, no rear number plate - $60, displaying false number plates or registration label - $180.
“Police usually give a period of two weeks leniency to replace just expired labels as there can be postage hold-ups or people might forget the exact renewal day,” Sen-Constable Dickens said.
Those who risk driving unregistered vehicles face far harsher penalties if involved in a serious accident.
Legally an unregistered vehicle is not covered by compulsory third party insurance in Australia.
Australian Associated Motor Insurers (AAMI) representative Jen Davidson explained the industry stance. “An unregistered car’s insurance is null and void. We require customers to meet their legal requirements for insurance to be upheld,” she said.
Suffering personal injury at the hands of an unregistered vehicle operator does not mean financial hardship for the victim.
Kruger Law principal, John Kruger, outlined safeguards in place for claimants. “Governments have a statutory body called the Nominal Defendant, established under the Motor Vehicle Insurance Act 1994, to compensate personal injury resulting from negligent driving of unidentified or uninsured (no CTP insurance) motor vehicles,” he said.
This is good news for the injured, but unregistered vehicle owners or drivers will be pursued for damages. “You could end up losing your house, assets, everything,” Mr Kruger said.
Governments try to lessen drivers’ financial burden by allowing them to register half yearly.
Image(s) designed by John Hammond