Road Transport Authority ACT

.. slightly off topic but …..

We have recently changed over to NSW rego and after writing to ACT Road Services, with the receipt for the surrender to NSW RTA of the old ACT plates, we got a response to say, yes you are entitled to $xx refund and will receive payment within a month. I suspect this has something to do with the payment having to come thru Shared Services but still it seems a long time to have to wait.

Also, it is a COURTESY reminder. You alone are responsible for payment of your bills etc, this is no different. Take some responsibility of your actions.

blackberry, I recieved the original invoice late (not a reminder), and as I mentioned earlier, some of us actually need the goddamn invoice in order to have it paid, OK?

@ Barking toad

…..be aware that the due date on reminder notices is 14 days earlier than the actual expiry date on your rego sticker. So, as you rush to pay by the reminder due date,and your next rego starts from that payment date, the gubmint has rorted 14 days off you….

ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH!

First of all it is 10 days before expiration of registration. The new registration period begins when the PREVIOUS registraion runs out and it automatically ‘kicks’ in.

The reason for the 10 day period is in case people have opted to send in a cheque via post or money order. They require 10 days to receive payument and mail out the registration sticker label. (they do it so you don’t drive around with an old rego sticker). At no point does the government/ Road User Services take 14 days away from you.

It says below your name ‘Veteran Rioter’. I’d hate to read the rest of your posts and see how far off from the truth you are.

Let’s get some facts straight before we bash Road User Services.

@ 2much2do

You received the courtesy reminder notice late before they were holding off until the new Rego.ACT system was updated to include other 3rd Party providers. Unfortunately they did not receive suitable applications for the September build and so there was a delay. They held off sending reminders in case they were able to add a cheaper alternative.

Also, it is a COURTESY reminder. You alone are responsible for payment of your bills etc, this is no different. Take some responsibility of your actions.

You also mentioned:

“I called Canberra Connect to see if there was anything they could do to help but of course they don’t work for the RTA and didn’t care”

First of all, Canberra Connect works closely with Road User Services and are the first point of contact for them and for the ACT Government. They also take the brunt of complaints from people such as yourself who seem to think the government or in this case Road User Services exists to make your day a bad one. Canberra Connect gives enough of a damn to work with Road User Services to waive the short-term registration surcharge of $25 dollars as a way of saying sorry about the late COURTESY reminder.

“Apparently there was a computer glitch. You gotta laugh at that cop out. The computer doesn’t make the glitch, it’s the idiot sitting at the keyboard.”

You obviously don’t work in an environment running multiple systems. Not one person actively goes out to shut a system down. IT HAPPENS.

“I have no other choice but to pay only 3 months of the rego fee and have to take time off work to pay the bill in person because the online payment date has passed.”

That’s rubbish. You can pay online, shopfront, or ring Canberra Connect Contact Centre. Again, take responsiblity of your actions and save during the year.

Also, what admin fee were you charged?? There is no admin fee for paying registration late. You can leave it unregistered for 12months before and inspection needs to be done, but you do NOT receive an admin fee. Maybe the short-term registration surcharge is what you are referring to, but the has been WAIVED.

Barking Toad

If you actually read the notice and check the dates on your rego sticker, you would notice that when you pay for one years rego, you get one year of rego. When you renew, it starts after the current rego expires.

Well done though for seeing through the “gubmint” rort that would otherwise have cost you literally dollars per year.

I know that there are probably plenty of other hidden expenses in the rego payment that may not be necessary and cost us quite a lot… Shonkying up the expiry date is not currently a problem.

Oops, I meant “…it can take up to 5 days for a payment made via my online banking service to reach the biller.”

The online payment date is just the date given so that your new sticker can be posted out before the actual expiry date. It doesn’t mean that you can no longer pay online with you credit card or via bpay. I prefer to pay in mine in person because I don’t have a credit card, and I found out the hard way that it can take up to 5 days before a payment made via my online banking service can take up to 5 days to reach the biller.

I just make sure I know roughly when the rego is due, pick a time when I can go, and take a book, just in case. I paid mine recently at Belconnen because Gungahlin doesn’t rate highly enough to have a shopfront. It was close to a peak time, and only waited 15 minutes. Not bad, as far as I’m concerned.

I think you can pay it at the post office, and use your receipt to cover you until your sticker arrives, if you do want to pay in person, but don’t want a potentially long wait.

barking toad: Don’t be silly, the next rego starts from the day after the previous rego expired. The payment date matters not.

No government department is obligated to provide you with a renewal notice, it is a courtesy to the customer. It is the onus of the car owner/driver etc to make sure that the vehicle is legally able to be operated.

Hopefully the RTA have fixed up the rego stickers which didn’t stick.

I got a parking fine more than a fortnight ago and still haven’t had anything by mail from Rego … what happens if the envelope disappears from your windscreen and you aren’t aware of the fine? Am I missing a letter, or has the procedure changed I wonder …

Spectra and Felix the Cat.

Both of you did not properly read the OP’s article did you…?

have to take time off work to pay the bill in person because the online payment date has passed.

Kiddies should also be aware that the due date on reminder notices is 14 days earlier than the actual expiry date on your rego sticker. So, as you rush to pay by the reminder due date,and your next rego starts from that payment date, the gubmint has rorted 14 days off you.

I get the impression that this is happening more braodly across the government.

We have recieved a ‘reminder notice’ for rathes without recieving the original invoice – I simply rang them and said that I only pay on an invoice and a ‘reminder notice’ diddn’t cut it. It took them another ten days to sort themselves out.

We always pay for only three months at a time, and this creates rather a different problem; we always get our renewal (or reminder: I can’t be bothered with semantics games) about a week after we pay, so we just file it and forget it. Then comes the day when we happen to be washing the car and notice that the rego expired a week earlier…

Even then, though, we don’t often get charged any penalties. And again, as soon as we’ve paid, there’s another notice sitting in the letterbox…

I was told the delay was that they are changing the system, also a different notice.

that’s better!

I was told the delay was that they are changing the system, also a different it was a different notice.

Yeah I only just got mine too. I’ve got to send it off to the leasing company to get it paid, which requires having the actual bit of paper (because it’s a tax invoice).

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/160458/MR291_0809_Registration_renewal_notices.pdf

Is the relevant media release for the problem, I’ve also heard it on the radio and seen it on tv and newspaper. Though $5 is a small price to pay, I believe that the Government should be covering that administration fee as well seeing that the consumers are not to blame. I am curious how people don’t realise that the registration on their car is about to expire, I know mine expires at the end of September without having to look. The huge number on the sticker gives it away..

2much2do – you have really outed yourself as a dill. Have you never had your home or work computer shut down unexpectedly or do some other weird thing? You must be the world’s luckies tperson if you haven’t, or you don’t use computers very often.

As others have already pointed out the rego label on the windscreen should be your first clue that the rego is due to expire soon.

You don’t need to go to a shopfront or rego office, you can renew online (do a Google search “ACT rego”), don’t need rego renewal notice for either – just type in your rego number (you know, the numbers and letters from the funny blue and white metal plate things attached to the front and rear bumpers of your car!) and the last 4 characters of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or Chassis Number (details on your rego label or an old rego papers). Takes less than 5 mins. You can also re-register your car online up to 12 months after the rego has expired and 3 months before it has expired.

It’s pretty easy really, don’t know what all the fuss is about.

All you have to do is pay the rego fee – it’s not like you need to get your car inspected or anything…

I paid on friday, as mine expires on tuesday, and i got my label today.

Guess they did something right?

I think that the ‘Reminder Notice’ *is* the first notice.

Spectra, fairly sure you’re right there too. I would add to your suggestion that once you pay your rego (online, over the phone) that you’d keep a copy of the receipt in your car just in case you are pulled over. I got my renewal last Friday and my rego expires next Monday. I paid the other day and I’m keeping my receipt in my car as proof just in case the label doesn’t arrive in time.

Aah I also got the “reminder”… good to know that’s how it is now, cos I thought I was missing mail or something :-/

As for the sticker, don’t worry about it. As Spectra said, you’ll be fine. If you pay online just print out the receipt and carry that with you if you’re worried. I’ve been pulled over and it’s not an issue.

We also got a reminder notice last week without ever getting the first notice.

It really wasn’t necessary to pay in person, though. You’re quite at liberty to pay over the phone or internet, and your vehicle is legally registered as soon as you do. If you’re pulled over, you simply explain that the sticker is in the mail – the police can verify the registration status of your vehicle (yes, it may be technically illegal to not have the sticker in place, but it would be a seriously bored cop who would ticket you for that alone).

So, you didn’t notice the big number on the rego sticker *every* time you got in the car for the last few months? Shame, that.

Also, waiting times at shopfronts really aren’t that bad – last two times I’ve been in, I’ve only had to wait ten minutes max (and yes, one of those times was lunch hour at Dickson).

Oh and BTW, the new CTP arrangements are doing a great job at reducing the CTP component of the rego bill aren’t they? NOT.

And did you notice it is a “reminder notice”? Not that we ever received an actual renewal notice in the first place.

Same thing has been happening with the rates notices. We’re fortunate that we have that on a fortnightly deduction arrangement, so it doesn’t hit us so hard.

Not doing much of a job with the basics are they?

So, you didn’t know when your rego was going to be due?

If you look closely at that funny little sticker on your windscreen, it actually has an expiry date on it, to help you plan ahead……..