ACT rego stickers...or lack thereof!

mmmich said :

JohnnyCharisma said :

Canberra connect has an easy website where you update your address for a variety of govt services – licence, rego, library, rates etc. it’s very easy and then you have confirmation it’s been done correctly. I moved in January and had my rego renewal reminder mailed shortly after, due in March. System works fine for me.

The reason why I rung up was because I thought it would be better talking to an actual person to confirm that the address update was made. Ie I was aware I could do it online but decided to go for the phone option, my mistake.

I think with the amount of discussion this has generated the renewal reminders is an issue and the whole onus is on us, whatever. People forget, they know this, more fines means more money.

kingcosworth said :

Abolishing rego stickers can only have one real outcome, increased revenue for the local gov. With the increased chances of people making a mistake and forgetting their due date for rego, this increases the pool of offenders that are able to be fined, and with the current numberplate camera the police are now using, wow….. What I think is scary with this new proticol though is the potential of some what innocent citizens been placed into extreme financial hardship if they injure sombody and theit CTPI has lapsed. This scenario can now be created far more easily by simply missing a letter, ruining someone financially for such an innocent mistake is extraordinarily harsh and dangerous to peoples wellbeing. Obviously this mistake was still made with the sticker system, but will now be more common, this is a dangerous system simply instigated to increase revenue because the ACTGOV cannot efficiently spend what they already get…

Nonsense. They send out renewal notices. Besides name one other bill where they send you a sticker to remind you? Can insurance for one, which is just as important as registration. Anyway if it is such an issue make up your own sticker. You can buy them quite cheaply at a newsangent, and of course you will have plenty left over to create some more stickers. Maybe one to remind you when to go to the loo, when to go to work and the like.

Abolishing rego stickers can only have one real outcome, increased revenue for the local gov. With the increased chances of people making a mistake and forgetting their due date for rego, this increases the pool of offenders that are able to be fined, and with the current numberplate camera the police are now using, wow….. What I think is scary with this new proticol though is the potential of some what innocent citizens been placed into extreme financial hardship if they injure sombody and theit CTPI has lapsed. This scenario can now be created far more easily by simply missing a letter, ruining someone financially for such an innocent mistake is extraordinarily harsh and dangerous to peoples wellbeing. Obviously this mistake was still made with the sticker system, but will now be more common, this is a dangerous system simply instigated to increase revenue because the ACTGOV cannot efficiently spend what they already get…

Antagonist said :

JC said :

Antagonist said :

CrankyGit said :

Yes, I’m putting reminders on the calendar when I think of it, I’m just suggesting that once upon a time there used to be a reliable method of determining the registration expiry, stuck to the inside of the windscreen.

Best of all, the sticker does not need power, mobile phone reception, internet access, logins or passwords to tell you your rego expiry date. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing ever ???

So how do you get on when it comes to insurance? No sticker there, but I have no doubt you manage

Post #20 refers: “I had, until recently, used a little sticker in the top corner of the windscreen with the rego expiry date to remind me when it is due.” It is something I used to do for my insurance, but now also shows rego dates since we do not get a sticker for our $1000 per annum rego fee. Until recently indicates that I have temporarily taken my car off the road.

Solidarity said :

As for the rego thing, just check the website. It takes two seconds. Job done. Stop whinging.

Incorrect. Checking a sticker on the inside of the windscreen takes two seconds. Checking online takes about two minutes, assuming you are checking your own rego, and longer if you have to wait for the computer/wifi to turn on as well. Good luck checking rego on a vehicle that belongs to someone else … like when you borrow a mates ute/trailer, work vehicle etc.

So please, if anyone actually knows:
1. What is the rationale behind the decision not to issue rego labels for vehicles 4.5t need the sticker, but not light vehicles?

Either way, both take less time than what it took you to write out that post. Seriously, it’s such an insignificant issue, stop it. As for checking mates or other regos? If only there was a small device you could check for such things on… perhaps some sort of computer, a small one… you can keep in your pocket… one with Internet access? Hm. What a novel idea.

The fact I don’t have to have a sticker on my windscreen is just a bonus.

JC said :

Antagonist said :

CrankyGit said :

Yes, I’m putting reminders on the calendar when I think of it, I’m just suggesting that once upon a time there used to be a reliable method of determining the registration expiry, stuck to the inside of the windscreen.

Best of all, the sticker does not need power, mobile phone reception, internet access, logins or passwords to tell you your rego expiry date. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing ever ???

So how do you get on when it comes to insurance? No sticker there, but I have no doubt you manage

Post #20 refers: “I had, until recently, used a little sticker in the top corner of the windscreen with the rego expiry date to remind me when it is due.” It is something I used to do for my insurance, but now also shows rego dates since we do not get a sticker for our $1000 per annum rego fee. Until recently indicates that I have temporarily taken my car off the road.

Solidarity said :

As for the rego thing, just check the website. It takes two seconds. Job done. Stop whinging.

Incorrect. Checking a sticker on the inside of the windscreen takes two seconds. Checking online takes about two minutes, assuming you are checking your own rego, and longer if you have to wait for the computer/wifi to turn on as well. Good luck checking rego on a vehicle that belongs to someone else … like when you borrow a mates ute/trailer, work vehicle etc.

So please, if anyone actually knows:
1. What is the rationale behind the decision not to issue rego labels for vehicles 4.5t need the sticker, but not light vehicles?

Karma. As the first poster I must disclose I discovered only today my car was uninsured for the last 24 hours. I simply forgot. All fixed up now though.

I can’t believe the expectations people have of their Government. Next you’ll all be wanting them to arrange for the grass around this town to be cut.

Insurance on a private vehicle will not cover an accident if it has been used for business use and not been declared as such…

As for the rego thing, just check the website. It takes two seconds. Job done. Stop whinging.

switch said :

Antagonist said :

Best of all, the sticker does not need power, mobile phone reception, internet access, logins or passwords to tell you your rego expiry date. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing ever ???

That’s crazy talk.

And social media isn’t?

JC said :

James-T-Kirk said :

In the old days, if you borrowed a friends car or trailer, or needed to move it, you could verify for yourself that the vehicle was registered. Now – it is not so easy. And there is no incentive on the part of the local Govmit to provide assistance, as they get 600+ dollars for every poor person who gets caught out – RAPID has to be paid for somehow…

Remember that the driver of the vehicle gets the fine, not the owner….

I am all for a 1800 phone number, being staffed 24 x 7 that you can ring to validate the current rego status – that way you have a couple of things;

1. Some level of validation that the rego is current.
2. Evidence (in the form of a call log that can’t be manipulated by you) for when the police pull you over because their database does not correlate to the one you used. Because, remember, without evidence, you are totally and completely stuffed…

So when you borrowed a friends car did you ask to see the insurance certificate too?

If using the car for anything work related, then yes. Yes, I do ask to see the insurance certificate. The certificate also needs to say ‘comprehensive insurance’. It is (or certainly was) ACT Government and APS policy that if you use a personal vehicle for work purposes, then the car must be registered AND must have full-comprehensive insurance. So if you sent me a claim for MVA, you would not see a single cent until you provided me with evidence from the insurance provider stating the car has comprehensive insurance.

Are rego confirmations a service that Canberra Connect might be able to provide via their call centre? There could be any number of legitimate reasons why people might need to check registration on another persons car. Accident, using mates car/trailer, checking rego on work vehicles … and the onus is on the vehicle operator to check these things. How do we check rego details for a vehicle owned by another party?

Could I suggest that perhaps rego provide some sort of sticker for the inside of the windscreen with an expiry date on it like they do for vehicles over 4.5t?

James-T-Kirk said :

In the old days, if you borrowed a friends car or trailer, or needed to move it, you could verify for yourself that the vehicle was registered. Now – it is not so easy. And there is no incentive on the part of the local Govmit to provide assistance, as they get 600+ dollars for every poor person who gets caught out – RAPID has to be paid for somehow…

Remember that the driver of the vehicle gets the fine, not the owner….

I am all for a 1800 phone number, being staffed 24 x 7 that you can ring to validate the current rego status – that way you have a couple of things;

1. Some level of validation that the rego is current.
2. Evidence (in the form of a call log that can’t be manipulated by you) for when the police pull you over because their database does not correlate to the one you used. Because, remember, without evidence, you are totally and completely stuffed…

So when you borrowed a friends car did you ask to see the insurance certificate too?

Antagonist said :

CrankyGit said :

Yes, I’m putting reminders on the calendar when I think of it, I’m just suggesting that once upon a time there used to be a reliable method of determining the registration expiry, stuck to the inside of the windscreen.

Best of all, the sticker does not need power, mobile phone reception, internet access, logins or passwords to tell you your rego expiry date. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing ever ???

So how do you get on when it comes to insurance? No sticker there, but I have no doubt you manage

Antagonist said :

Best of all, the sticker does not need power, mobile phone reception, internet access, logins or passwords to tell you your rego expiry date. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing ever ???

That’s crazy talk.

You got fined because you broke the law. Sticker-less is the new norm and makes a lot of sense. Remembering a number between 1 and 12 is not onerous, at least not compared to the complex thinking required to operate a minor vehicle.If you really do need a reminder, just write the due month on the car service sticker under when your next service is due.

nrma has a window sticker that has a place to put date of rego.

Alchemy said :

I had a very similar experience, with a twist.

I had been leasing my previous car while the ACT still had Rego stickers and for several years my Leasing company paid the rego and sent me the sticker. I upgraded to a new lease just before ACT went sticker-less and I found out about 15 months later (after getting pulled over and fined) that the company had a new policy that the owner was to pay the rego and send them the bill for reimbursement.

Some time previously I had registered my physical address and PO Box (which I had since closed before upgrading my lease) as my postal address with ACT Government and upon contact the ACT Motor Registry confirmed the dates they sent correspondence to my (closed) PO Box. They never tried sending anything to my physical address, but I guess that is understandable – that is why one has separate physical and postal addresses.

To cut a long story short, I challenged the fine and received a full refund!

I know it was partially my fault that I should have known that the rego was due and that I just assumed that my leasing company had registered the car like they had ‘always’ done previously. But due to a comedy of errors the registration went unpaid.

Anyway I have now updated my postal address and created calendar reminders on my phone and email.

Cheers

Well done!

CrankyGit said :

Yes, I’m putting reminders on the calendar when I think of it, I’m just suggesting that once upon a time there used to be a reliable method of determining the registration expiry, stuck to the inside of the windscreen.

Best of all, the sticker does not need power, mobile phone reception, internet access, logins or passwords to tell you your rego expiry date. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing ever ???

Did you also not receive the green slip renewal? That’s against the odds and as the DMT/RTA/RMS/[insert state rego authority name here] states the onus is on you to ensure all your vehicles are registered. No I’m not a copper nor an official just someone who takes responsibility.

I had a very similar experience, with a twist.

I had been leasing my previous car while the ACT still had Rego stickers and for several years my Leasing company paid the rego and sent me the sticker. I upgraded to a new lease just before ACT went sticker-less and I found out about 15 months later (after getting pulled over and fined) that the company had a new policy that the owner was to pay the rego and send them the bill for reimbursement.

Some time previously I had registered my physical address and PO Box (which I had since closed before upgrading my lease) as my postal address with ACT Government and upon contact the ACT Motor Registry confirmed the dates they sent correspondence to my (closed) PO Box. They never tried sending anything to my physical address, but I guess that is understandable – that is why one has separate physical and postal addresses.

To cut a long story short, I challenged the fine and received a full refund!

I know it was partially my fault that I should have known that the rego was due and that I just assumed that my leasing company had registered the car like they had ‘always’ done previously. But due to a comedy of errors the registration went unpaid.

Anyway I have now updated my postal address and created calendar reminders on my phone and email.

Cheers

JohnnyCharisma said :

Exact same thing happened to me earlier this year. Story goes as follows.

I moved address from North to South. I knew that I had to update my address for car registration. I rung up and the officer on the other end told me that the address was updated to the new address. I thanked him and hung up.

When driving around the Hyperdome I got pulled over by the police who told me my car was unregistered. I told him I didn’t receive any renewal reminder in the mail. I rung Connect immediately, and it turned out the officer I had spoken to who had told me that he had updated my address had updated in one system, but apparently not another system/area where it needed to be in order to pump out my rego renewal.

My fine: $1200

Canberra connect has an easy website where you update your address for a variety of govt services – licence, rego, library, rates etc. it’s very easy and then you have confirmation it’s been done correctly. I moved in January and had my rego renewal reminder mailed shortly after, due in March. System works fine for me.

Exact same thing happened to me earlier this year. Story goes as follows.

I moved address from North to South. I knew that I had to update my address for car registration. I rung up and the officer on the other end told me that the address was updated to the new address. I thanked him and hung up.

When driving around the Hyperdome I got pulled over by the police who told me my car was unregistered. I told him I didn’t receive any renewal reminder in the mail. I rung Connect immediately, and it turned out the officer I had spoken to who had told me that he had updated my address had updated in one system, but apparently not another system/area where it needed to be in order to pump out my rego renewal.

My fine: $1200

Genie said :

I think the OP is trying to pull a swifty.

ACT rego still send out reminders at the beginning on the month BEFORE your rego is due.

When I last registered my car, I purchased 3 months of rego/CTPI. My rego ran out at the end of January 2015. They sent out my reminder at the beginning of December. 7 weeks before due. 7 weeks notice, on 3 months of rego … great timing.

Genie said :

Their system is also designed to send out a reminder the day after your rego expires if it wasn’t renewed.

It may be designed that way, but it certainly is not working that way. My rego ran out around 20 January. My reminder notice is dated 7/2/15 which is a Saturday, and more than two weeks past expiry. Further, it was not received until 19/2/15. Yep, it took 12 days for Australia Post to make a delivery across town, despite being able to deliver my letters to the UK in under 6 days. It was nearly a month after taking my car off the road that I received anything to advise my rego had expired.

It seems to me there are ongoing problems with service delivery at TaMS … but that is hardly anything new, and definitely no great surprise.

bd84 said :

Seriously, who actually looked at that little sticker stuck in the corner of the windscreen every time they drove the car? Nobody.

You should at least remember the month in which its due.

Well, I must be one of those Nobody types. I used them regularly to make sure the rego was in date.

Saying one *should* remember at least the month when rego is due is all well and good if you have one car only, but when you have numerous cars, trailers, camper, motorcycle, registered under own name, partners name, joint names, etc, it all gets a bit complicated. God help me when I have to worry about vehicles for the kids too. I will definitely want to ensure they have their rego up to date too.

Yes, I’m putting reminders on the calendar when I think of it, I’m just suggesting that once upon a time there used to be a reliable method of determining the registration expiry, stuck to the inside of the windscreen.

James-T-Kirk said :

WOW!

I just went to https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/findRegoByPlate.jsf and it is sooooooo waiting to be scraped by a clever person to write an android app.

You can literally scrape the entire ACT RTA database, and derive useful information – including how many vehicles are suspended, how many are unregistered (the 95 falcon I used to own is unregistered, but it says there is one owner – I wonder if I would get a ping if the plates were abused by the dealer who I sold it to 6 years ago? I certainly don’t have the sale slip any more…..)

you can create your own database to see the number of vehicles actually insured by CTPI insurers…

you can even use the site to keep track of plates that you have forged, to make sure you keep f;lying under the radar… (There is a stolen plate field).

Woot!

That’s not terrifying at all…

WOW!

I just went to https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/findRegoByPlate.jsf and it is sooooooo waiting to be scraped by a clever person to write an android app.

You can literally scrape the entire ACT RTA database, and derive useful information – including how many vehicles are suspended, how many are unregistered (the 95 falcon I used to own is unregistered, but it says there is one owner – I wonder if I would get a ping if the plates were abused by the dealer who I sold it to 6 years ago? I certainly don’t have the sale slip any more…..)

you can create your own database to see the number of vehicles actually insured by CTPI insurers…

you can even use the site to keep track of plates that you have forged, to make sure you keep f;lying under the radar… (There is a stolen plate field).

Woot!

In the old days, if you borrowed a friends car or trailer, or needed to move it, you could verify for yourself that the vehicle was registered. Now – it is not so easy. And there is no incentive on the part of the local Govmit to provide assistance, as they get 600+ dollars for every poor person who gets caught out – RAPID has to be paid for somehow…

Remember that the driver of the vehicle gets the fine, not the owner….

I am all for a 1800 phone number, being staffed 24 x 7 that you can ring to validate the current rego status – that way you have a couple of things;

1. Some level of validation that the rego is current.
2. Evidence (in the form of a call log that can’t be manipulated by you) for when the police pull you over because their database does not correlate to the one you used. Because, remember, without evidence, you are totally and completely stuffed…

I think the OP is trying to pull a swifty.

ACT rego still send out reminders at the beginning on the month BEFORE your rego is due. Their system is also designed to send out a reminder the day after your rego expires if it wasn’t renewed.

I moved house about 4 weeks before my rego was due and never recieved the original notice, but I knew my rego needed to be paid. When I contacted ACT rego as to why my address hadn’t been updated, it was just a simple coincidence that I’d updated it a day or 2 after the notice was posted.

I didn’t renew my rego until about midnight of the night it was expired, sure enough a few days later a reminder showed up advising me my rego was now expired, but if I had paid it in the last 7 days to ignore the notice.

Have no problem with not getting one but is there a discount !! I doubt it. Same as supermarkets, they want you to do it all yourself but no discount

Rego reminders are definately still being mailed out. I received mine 4 weeks ago.

mr_wowtrousers said :

Surely for almost $1000 to register a family sedan, an email or, bup budda baahhhh, a letter can be sent reminding you?

They do. Even the OP said one was sent, but apparently never arrived.

MonarchRepublic said :

basketcase said :

Masquara said :

It wouldn’t be so bad if you could check your rego status online. You can’t.

The details provided by https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/maintainContactDetails.jsf tells you if it is registered or not,

It doesn’t tell you when it is registered to which is the problem.

I better stop now before I go into a rant about government websites usefullness in general.

It does tell you. On the screen it takes you to after entering number plate, click on the vehicle. Lots of detail there incl expiry date (may need to scroll right)

Think about what you have said here. A whole bunch of screens, logins and other messing around, all so ACT Rego can save a few cents per sticker? Does it really need to be this complex to check your rego expiry date? I would call the removal of rego stickers a false economy, but with how much money ACT coffers are making from suckers like the OP, it sounds like a terrific revenue raiser! Save 5 cents per sticker … make $654 per sucker. A terrific business model.

This is exactly the situation people were concerned about when they stopped giving out rego stickers for vehicles <4.5t, and this feedback was given to rego by a lot of people (myself included). But as seems to be the prevailing attitude at ACT Government Shopfronts, they know better than you. We are not asking rego to do anything difficult or expensive. We are handing over $800 – $1000 per year to register a car … and ACT Rego cannot provide a small (say 10mm x 30mm sticker) at a cost of less than 5 cents, that has your rego expiry date on it? It is a long lost concept called 'courtesy' or 'providing a service'.

Maybe it is the responsibility of the owner to follow up rego, but what ever happened to ACT Rego's core business? You know … providing a *SERVICE* to the public? The big push for self-service is the root cause of everything that is (IMO) currently wrong with the direction ACT Government are taking with service delivery across the board, but especially at TaMS. As the push for self-service and automated processes continues, the quality of service is taking a big nose dive.

And thus ends todays rant 🙂

basketcase said :

Masquara said :

It wouldn’t be so bad if you could check your rego status online. You can’t.

The details provided by https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/maintainContactDetails.jsf tells you if it is registered or not,

It doesn’t tell you when it is registered to which is the problem.

I better stop now before I go into a rant about government websites usefullness in general.

It does tell you. On the screen it takes you to after entering number plate, click on the vehicle. Lots of detail there incl expiry date (may need to scroll right)

Masquara said :

It wouldn’t be so bad if you could check your rego status online. You can’t.

Yes you can. See post #2. Gives exact expiry date, plus the info you need to access your renewal amount online (last 4 numbers of VIN, etc)

https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/findRegoByPlate.jsf
This site lets anybody check the rego status of any vehicle in the A.C.T. I found it useful when looking at buying a car as I could see how long the rego was valid for.

Surely for almost $1000 to register a family sedan, an email or, bup budda baahhhh, a letter can be sent reminding you?

not just for reminder notices….
You motivated us to petition ACT rego…

https://www.change.org/p/http-www-rego-act-gov-au-reintroduce-act-light-vehicle-registration-stickers?

Acton said :

Kox said:
“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

That can’t be correct. The onus is on, and always should be on, the service provider to issue their customer with a billing notice or invoice.
It would create a highly undesirable and inefficient precedent to put the onus on customers to remember and request monthly, quarterly or annual bills. How would customers know about service cost variations unless issued with an invoice?
Also, think of how many different bills/notices/invoices one would have to individually follow up on different dates with different service providers:
Car registration(s), electricity, water, gas, school fees, home and contents insurance, credit cards; medical insurance; rates; phone….
Imagine the inefficiency created for providers in cancelling and then restoring services because of overlooked payments if reminders were not issued.
Common sense and long-standing practice suggests service providers issue invoices and if a bill is unpaid after the due date the service provider issue a reminder notice to the recipients’s last known postal address, email or phone number. If a person hasn’t told the service provider of an address change, then a missed bill is their fault.

Registration isn’t a service provision role it’s a regulation role. It’s pretty common for the regulator to insist that regulated to know the regulations. It’s the principle of ‘ignorantia juris non excusat’.

Seriously, who actually looked at that little sticker stuck in the corner of the windscreen every time they drove the car? Nobody.

You should at least remember the month in which its due. My registration expires in 28 November 2015, without looking at a sticker or a renewal notice.

If you’re the forgetful type, there’s these things called calendars. Hard copy, soft copy.. Write it in there.

Unless you haven’t updated your address with the RTA, they’re very good at sending you the renewal notice in the mail about 5 weeks prior. If there’s a problem with printing and mailing, it doesn’t usually last 5 weeks before being resolved.

Pay the fine and move on.

Masquara said :

It wouldn’t be so bad if you could check your rego status online. You can’t.

The details provided by https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/maintainContactDetails.jsf tells you if it is registered or not,

It doesn’t tell you when it is registered to which is the problem.

I better stop now before I go into a rant about government websites usefullness in general.

If you need a sticky label to tell you what date your rego is paid up until, why do you need a bureaucrat to print it out for you?

Just buy some stickers (sticky address labels, name tags, gold stars, whatever) and write the renewal date on the sticker with a texta, and stick it to a corner of your windscreen.

Government isn’t the answer to every problem.

It wouldn’t be so bad if you could check your rego status online. You can’t.

Rollersk8r said :

Through ACT RTA. You need your licence and rego details to log in – then choose:

https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/maintainContactDetails.jsf

Thank you!

OP – you’re just going to have to cop it on the chin, Champ. You got out of that one cheaply, because he didn’t do you for not having insurance as well. That would have doubled the fine. Personally, I want rego stickers back too.

I had, until recently, used a little sticker in the top corner of the windscreen with the rego expiry date to remind me when it is due. I got a reminder notice from ACT Rego in December about 5 weeks before it was due to lapse. I then let my rego lapse in late January because I have the engine out of the car at the moment. They then sent me another letter in February (about 3 weeks after rego lapsed) advising that it had lapsed. The letter stated that there are consequences if I drive it and get caught, and very serious consequences if the car is involved in an accident. And I can reregister the car without inspection, as long as it has not lapsed for more than 12 months.

I’m guessing that your advice of expiration from ACT Rego is on its way in the mail …

Felix the Cat said :

dungfungus said :

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

It’s your car, bought by you, registered by you and driven by you. You are responsible for keeping it registered.

The fine is a pain, but sometimes that’s just how it is.

Knowing the due date is one thing but knowing how much to pay is another so how else are we going to know if they don’t tell us?
One thing is certain and that is next year’s cost will be greater than this years and so on.

Do you not have an electronic calender on Outlook or your phone that you could use? Or even a good old fashioned paper calender? How do you remember other important dates and events?

Once you have worked out/been reminded when the rego is due you can go to regoACT website and it will tell you exactly how much it will cost and allow you to renew it while you are there. Very easy.

A $654 fine for being ignorant is cheap IMO.

So you are saying without qualification that the RTA no longer sends out reminder/invoices and the only way it can be paid is on-line?

Kox said:
“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

That can’t be correct. The onus is on, and always should be on, the service provider to issue their customer with a billing notice or invoice.
It would create a highly undesirable and inefficient precedent to put the onus on customers to remember and request monthly, quarterly or annual bills. How would customers know about service cost variations unless issued with an invoice?
Also, think of how many different bills/notices/invoices one would have to individually follow up on different dates with different service providers:
Car registration(s), electricity, water, gas, school fees, home and contents insurance, credit cards; medical insurance; rates; phone….
Imagine the inefficiency created for providers in cancelling and then restoring services because of overlooked payments if reminders were not issued.
Common sense and long-standing practice suggests service providers issue invoices and if a bill is unpaid after the due date the service provider issue a reminder notice to the recipients’s last known postal address, email or phone number. If a person hasn’t told the service provider of an address change, then a missed bill is their fault.

Commonplace throughout Australia now for cars IIRC, not just the ACT. Solutions are:

1) sign up to receive rego renewal notices by email at https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/maintainContactDetails.jsf
They will send you an email reminder 4-6 weeks before the expiry date.
Remember to check your emails and print it out.

2) steal a post-it note from work and write the expiry date/month on both sides; stick it on your windscreen where you would place the label. Remember to look at it around the due date.

3) Set a reminder in your phone/email client.

dungfungus said :

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

It’s your car, bought by you, registered by you and driven by you. You are responsible for keeping it registered.

The fine is a pain, but sometimes that’s just how it is.

Knowing the due date is one thing but knowing how much to pay is another so how else are we going to know if they don’t tell us?
One thing is certain and that is next year’s cost will be greater than this years and so on.

You must know what month it falls due. At the start of the month log onto the website, call up your details and pay it.

We have two cars at our house. One has rego that falls due in January, one in June. I log on a few weeks before they’re due and find out what’s required, and then go ahead and pay the amount.

I thought about this topic when they stopped issuing them in Queensland recently (as I have just left there).
I wondered how am I going to know when my rego is due next ?
I wondered if they might be a nice little side business in producing little stickers for people to put on their cars in place of the rego stickers, reminding them when its due. Pity I’m too lazy to run a business 🙂

On the back of this I found out when they are due and simply added a reminder into my hotmail calender…..

dungfungus said :

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

It’s your car, bought by you, registered by you and driven by you. You are responsible for keeping it registered.

The fine is a pain, but sometimes that’s just how it is.

Knowing the due date is one thing but knowing how much to pay is another so how else are we going to know if they don’t tell us?
One thing is certain and that is next year’s cost will be greater than this years and so on.

Do you not have an electronic calender on Outlook or your phone that you could use? Or even a good old fashioned paper calender? How do you remember other important dates and events?

Once you have worked out/been reminded when the rego is due you can go to regoACT website and it will tell you exactly how much it will cost and allow you to renew it while you are there. Very easy.

A $654 fine for being ignorant is cheap IMO.

Holden Caulfield said :

Rollersk8r said :

I signed up to the free SMS service with the motor registry as soon as it was announced.

Is that a service offered by ACT Gov or a third party? Do you have a linky please?

Through ACT RTA. You need your licence and rego details to log in – then choose:

https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/maintainContactDetails.jsf

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

It’s your car, bought by you, registered by you and driven by you. You are responsible for keeping it registered.

The fine is a pain, but sometimes that’s just how it is.

Knowing the due date is one thing but knowing how much to pay is another so how else are we going to know if they don’t tell us?
One thing is certain and that is next year’s cost will be greater than this years and so on.

Spiral said :

I think the ACT government should bring in a direct debit system like so many businesses (like my mortgage, electricity etc). So each month they take the correct amount and you never have to worry about being out of rego.

A cynic would say that if they did that they wouldn’t be able to raise so much money by issuing these fines.

A cynic would be correct in this instance.
A friend copped a parking infringement notice in the Parliamentary Triangle (Noodle thing on Friday night) which was $260. I think the bureaucrats who have parking supplied as part of their employment are really out of touch with the high level of penalties they impose.

Well this is interesting. Especially the 654 dollar fine, hell..
I received a renewal notice last October for my wheels. So have they stopped doing this ?
I guess I’d better make up some sticker thing to remind me.

As mentioned, the onus is on you to know when your rego expires. Understand people can forget, but that won’t get you off, unfortunately. Bet you won’t forget again 😉

Rollersk8r said :

I signed up to the free SMS service with the motor registry as soon as it was announced.

Is that a service offered by ACT Gov or a third party? Do you have a linky please?

I think the ACT government should bring in a direct debit system like so many businesses (like my mortgage, electricity etc). So each month they take the correct amount and you never have to worry about being out of rego.

A cynic would say that if they did that they wouldn’t be able to raise so much money by issuing these fines.

“The RTA told me that they only send out the renewal notices as a ‘courtesy’, and that the onus is on drives to just ‘know’ when the due date is. I’m sorry…what?”

It’s your car, bought by you, registered by you and driven by you. You are responsible for keeping it registered.

The fine is a pain, but sometimes that’s just how it is.

Solidarity said :

There is a website where you can check:

https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/findRegoByPlate.jsf

I didn’t know about this website, but I am constantly forgetting when my renewals are coming up and am terrified of being caught out by police in the manner described above. Thanks, Solidarity!

I still have my last rego sticker on my car. I was considering removing it, but after reading this I will be leaving it there as a reminder.

Are you sure the RTA actually sent out a renewal/invoice?
The reason I suggest this is that ACT Ambulance has not been invoicing for their call-outs and I think it is all done through some directorate called “shared services”. There have a major billing problem.
Why don’t you email the RTA and ask for proof the document was sent to you and ask for dates, where posted and demand a copy?
It is possible they put an incorrect address on it?
When you receive the info from RTA contact Australia Post and ask them to verify that they received the letter to post from RTA – it would have been “bulk posted” over the counter and a receipt would have been issued.
I would go to court for the amount of money involved – argue that you did not wilfully avoid payment.

There is a website where you can check:

https://rego.act.gov.au/regosoa/public/findRegoByPlate.jsf

It’s on the onus of the vehicle owner to be on top of such things.

I hate to be that person stating the obvious – but you will get nowhere, you simply have to pay the fine.

If you’re not registered then you don’t have third party insurance – so the financial penalty could’ve been much worse if you were in an accident.

I signed up to the free SMS service with the motor registry as soon as it was announced.