Advice needed for life on the road

Sheba · Guru

Advice needed for life on the road

Pinto · Veteran Member

G'day all smile I have a few questions maybe you can help us with.. Since we are on the road full time with no fixed address how do I register my vehicles, renew my drivers licence and vote ??? I currently have everything registered in Qld and have a Qld licence. Plus how do I recieve mail when I don't know where we will end up!? My mail is going to my 82 year old mothers house in Qld atm but she won't be around forever. How do fellow nomads get around these issues ?

Golddetectornomad · Senior Member

Just a word of warning if you actually rent a property for a short period in Victoria....we rented out our property in Port Lincoln S.A. and have P.O. Box there with forwarding instructions to P.O. Box we have here in Victoria whilst we travel and that was three years ago and on the road for half that time...........we decided to rent a property here in Bendigo to stay for a shortish period....our renewals came from S.A. Registration for our two cars, Caravan and Horse Float...bingo..you must state your current residential address not P.O. address and S.A. registrar of vehicles refused to re-register...it is illegal in Victoria to have a Victorian Residential address even for shortish period and continue with interstate Licence plates....result....costs for two new Victorian Drivers Licences with photos, new Victorian Licence plates for 2 cars, caravan and horse float and Victorian registration costs for them all..worse still we had to have our near new Jayco Caravan re-inspected personally at Bendigo Registrar of Vehicles before they would issue new plates and you get to pay their ""inspection fee"" of approx $50!.as well.......we were simply going to leave the second car and horse float with S.A. Registration at our daughters in Heathcote while we travel.......they catch you with the 'Current Residential Address" question and they dont care that it is temporary as we pleaded......result substantial costs for new Victorian plates, registrations etc A temporary Residential address now labels me as a Victorian, with the associated costs and we intend to return to our property in S.A. after our travels....when the nonsense will start again...
As Nomads we as a group, without representation as a group, do not fit nicely into any clearly defined square box for the respective State Authorities.. ....when you live in your home and simply travel...I guess no worries ,providing it is not tenanted as then it is no longer your Current Residential address...as we move through the various States, we are taking our time and doing a bit of work, obviously I may have to be ""creative"" as to what equates as my "Current Residential Address" otherwise it becomes a bizarre unnecessary expense not to mention all the new holes in the back of the caravan to accomodate each States differing Number plates..in short I believe it is a State Government Revenue rort on Grey Nomads in similar position to ourselves....
Does anyone else have any ideas as to how to avoid my above experiences.... short of blatant lying...is a prolonged address in a Victorian Caravan Park deemed your residential address if you have a property in another State tenanted out?.....Hoo Roo

P.S. Not all our Registrations were due . once they have you in their sights everything had to be cahnged over...and the refunds from S.A. Registrar for the portion of unused registrations were pathetic after they took out all their ""administrative fees"" to process.....

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Saturday 26th of January 2013 10:24:29 PM

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Saturday 26th of January 2013 10:26:31 PM

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Saturday 26th of January 2013 10:30:10 PM

-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Saturday 26th of January 2013 10:43:13 PM

hako · Guru

Visit the link below - it has answers for most of your questions:
http://www.goseeaustralia.com.au/article/235/

villatranquilla · Guru

we have used our son's home address as our residential address but have our own PO Box in the same town for our mailing address. Daughter in law checks the mail box every couple of weeks and then opens and discusses the mail with us by phone. I have left her with a quantity of stamped A4 envelopes and she forwards whatever we want to the Post Office nearest to where we are staying. Telstra, Internet Provider and Centrelink will email correspondence and we are set up for phone banking. Have also now arranged for council rates notices to be emailed. An other Idea is to mark on the callandar when registrations, insurances etc are due so you don't overlook anything important.

nomadic1 · Senior Member

My mail goes to my daughters address. She opens anything that looks important and tells me about it by email. She forwards anything I ask for to the post office nearest wherever I am. Most of the time this works though Australia Post doesn't always co=operate too well. I pay as much as possible by direct debit. Centrelink sends me an sms when they need to talk to me and I go into any office. The organisation that can't seem to get it's organisational head around the nomadic lifestyle, believe it or not, is the CMCA who insist on a mailing address to send all correspondence and magazines to. As for voting - I had myself removed from the electoral roll years ago when I was living overseas. The reasons for this were 1) I wasn't always going to be anywhere near a polling place and 2) it was too hard to find out about the issues and candidates and I really can't see any point at all in busting a gut to get to a polling place just so that I can vote informal.

Nicholstones · Guru

i think all states have rules that say once you are there for a period of time (3 months? 6 months?) then you are meant to transfer things like licence, vehicle registration and voter registration. However, I don't believe that anyone who is on the road full time would actually do so, you just pick the state you want to be associated with and stick with it. As a hint, we can't help but notice that most of the Britz/Wicked/Apollo type rental campervans are registered in Victoria, this certainly isn't a coincidence!

I don't believe that owning a rental property would (or should) have any bearing on the definition of your home state, there is nothing to stop you having multiple rental properties in multiple states. I certainly wouldn't be supplying a temporary address as my residential address. You just need to be consistent in stating your 'home' address, if this involves 'blatant lying' then so be it!

patrolst · Senior Member

Pinto wrote:
G'day all I have a few questions maybe you can help us with.. Since we are on the road full time with no fixed address how do I register my vehicles, renew my drivers licence and vote ??? I currently have everything registered in Qld and have a Qld licence. Plus how do I recieve mail when I don't know where we will end up!? My mail is going to my 82 year old mothers house in Qld atm but she won't be around forever. How do fellow nomads get around these issues ?

Go and check with Qld Department of Transport for your registration Ph 132380, My Brother has a motor home and is on the road full time and uses this company for mail forwarding and registration renewal landbase@landbase.com.au Dept of transport accepted this as his address, check with them about your licence as well although I believe you Mum's address would be ok for this as it would not inconvenience her as you can renew it at any police station in any country town of Qld six weeks prior to the renewal date. As for voting check with the Electoral Roll Commission and explain that you are on the road full time and have no fixed address, my brother did this and the out com was that he doesn't have to vote in local council elections but does vote in state and federal elections and the landbase address was enough for that.

I believe the state election voting requirements would be where ever you had vehicle and van registration.

As there will be other members here that do live on the road full time they may be of further assistance.

-- Edited by patrolst on Sunday 27th of January 2013 11:32:03 AM

Golddetectornomad · Senior Member

Then a blatant lie is so it be....you can only have one 'Current Residential Address' and if someone else is living/renting your home in another State whilst you hit the road, how can that still be your Current Residential Address? You have to certify it on the Renewal Certificate...they will only allow a Post Office Box as your Current Postal Address not as your Current Residential Address and I got no where arguing the point with S.A. Registrar of Vehicles....or then Victorian Registrar....Victoria is hungry for revenue and as an example my Son in Law Artillery Sergeant still had Puckapunyal Army base as his Residential Address on his Licence, and bought a new home four months later off base, he was fined $200 approx for not changing his Residential address and so was my daughter...they had formerly lived on the base...
The Residential Address question is loaded to catch the ever increasing travelling Grey Nomads who no longer fit into a neat 'Residential Box', as most of us did during our working lives...others will be confronted with the experience/costs we have had to pay....I thought having a permanent Post Office Box in South Australia would take care of our situation..it doesn't.
If we had representation as a group it would be one of our first priorities to 'define' our 'Residential' status whilst travelling...in Victoria there are heavy fines for not disclosing your exact situation, as it was explained to me by Victorian Authorities...Authorities have many opportunity's to find out your correct situation...entering Toll Roads, Breathalizer inspections,Voting?..I found I could not avoid it after some 4 months in Victoria...I'm not talking about folk who take occasional holidays.....I'm a former Proclaimed Bank Manager and I know how to argue a case, and the original question was concerning potential problems of life on the road....I suggest going into denial that you can avoid scrutiny, can easily land you in strife if you blatantly tell a lie, as it will inevitably bite you in the bum...that's why we paid up.....
What other period in time has there been mass exodus of 'baby boomer' grey nomads hitting the road....I suggest never, and the Authorities are still to change their views from the traditional...'Unemployed Of No Fixed Address being any more than the proverbial swaggy with the port bottle in his back pocket lying on the Park bench...if anyone can advise how to overcome our situation short of lying I'm still open to ideas...Hoo Roo

Pinto · Veteran Member

Thanks for your imput people :) You have all been a great help.

way2gokev · Senior Member

You are so right golddetectorman it is all about revenue. If you are working in another state then you are required in most cases to apply and get a licence for that state, nothing changes but time wasted and fees add costs and you must have a reidential address for that state. So much for the Australian licence.

If you are not working or do short term work of weeks not months then you can get away with it. Most states require you to change your rego after 3 months if you are from another state, You only have to go across the border for a couple of days but once they have you they are pretty relentless in getting their fees.

I keep my residential address in Tasmania, do everything on line, My vehicles are allways garaged in tasmania but I am or will be moving around Aus. So they can jump up and down as much as they like I will just keep moving. I think that working in states whilst travelling eventually they will catch you.

If I rent my property and go travelling then as long as you put on your papers that vehicles are normally gararged at your residential address then tell them to take you to court if they think it is not right.

Well that how I used to get away with it, but I know things have changed now You need coloured cards for each state now if you intend to work. Anyway be like me only work if they are willing to give you real money.

Cheers Kev

Cruising Granny · Guru

I tried arguing with SA rego as well, but it depends on which office you argue with. It seems the Northpark office is user-friendly. Don't do Regency Park or Elizabeth.
As a full time itinerant I used my daughter's mail box, provided her with prepaid plastic envelopes so she could forward everything to me wherever I was parked at the time.
As an itinerant you can register your vehicle in whichever state suits you. SA and NSW are very expensive, and I believe Vic and WA are reasonable.
My car and van have been registered in WA since I bought the car in 2004 and the van in 2006, and just keep changing my relevant residential and/or postal address as appropriate.
Be careful with SA rego. They don't send out rego reminders, and I've been speaking to people who were fined heavily for allowing it to lapse.l WA doesn't use rego stickers but they do send reminders.
Most of my mail comes via email and I pay online through my bank's Bpay facility. I feel a bit nervous about phone banking.
I have been picked up by SA Police for a dodgy headlight and asked about my WA rego with a SA licence. As an itinerant I could be anywhere, and although I'm currently based in Adelaide and use the park's postal address, I still do travel a lot. I've been parked up here for more than 2 years now. It's a good base for me.
If you had trouble arguing with SA Rego, try arguing with Victoria's City Link toll managers. They couldn't find me but the Vic Police did when they sent me the fines for unpaid tolls I didn't know about. Very dodgy system. I even accused Vic Police of fraud for charging fines for non-existent offences.

jimricho · Guru

I use direct debits wherever I can, rates, water, phone, electricity, credit card payments, etc. Been doing so for many years and never had a problem occur.

Unfortunately can't do this with rego and licence.

Nicholstones · Guru

we're about to settle down again after 4 years on the road, started in vic and ending up in nsw. We are reluctant to transfer the vehicle reg as we know it is going to cost a bomb, given nsw needs vehicle checks etc, but were pleasantly surprised when changing our licences over to find that it was free, they just issued nsw licences that had the same expiry date as our vic licences.

Plodnalong · Senior Member

The rebellious part of me loves the consternation it causes when one is asked for an address and one replies "no fixed abode". People just look so confused as they have a form to fill out and NFA just doesn't work. I leave them with it as it is their problem and not mine.

gypsynolmate · Senior Member

Hi there Pinto, we have our daughter check our P.O. Box, and she scans it and emails to us daily. That way we can BPay any accounts and deal with it immediately. We live in Vic. our license and reg's etc are at her residential address. Hope this is of assistance.

Security1Pete · Newbie

NO Garage Address and or Normal Place . Like me we are NOT included within The States Traffic Regulations. Hence I have âPrivate Propertyâ Notice of âCOMNLAWâ Plates in place of Registration Plates and as the Regulations do not include us we cannot be subject to it. I also claim Common Law Right to travel on Crown Highways. Firstly do not lie to Police that is a criminal Act, State your name and No fixed Address, do not give ur kids or friends address as yours as it is not. We are Discriminated against by not being included within the law I have outlined this to the RTA of the States and State Ombudsmen and will play there silly game. For their registration you must have property and have that Garage Address where the vehicle is normally parked,,, LOL the Class of vehicle is âMobile Residenceâ MOBILE ! Under the Australian Constitution I have a right of freedom and travel. with my mobile residance and use free parks camps for 1-4 nights as provided. Also you cannot be fined for not having givin a new address as even after a few years your still or will not have one. Peter Commonwealth Public Official.