The SA rule for unregistered cars
Section 9 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 says you must not drive an unregistered motor vehicle on a road, or cause one to stand on a road. The second part catches people out. The car you bought, parked on the kerb outside the seller’s house while you sort the rego, counts.
A tow truck gets around both problems. A car carried on the tray rides as a load with its wheels off the road, and the Motor Vehicles Regulations exempt a vehicle being towed by a tow truck from registration and insurance, which covers the rear lift too.
To drive the car yourself, or tow it behind your own vehicle, you need an unregistered vehicle permit from Service SA. It covers a trip to an inspection, to repairs, to a car event or rally, or to relocate the vehicle, for up to three days. Apply through mySAGOV and carry the permit while you drive.
Auction and Marketplace buys
Run a PPSR search before any money changes hands. A lender can repossess a car with finance owing, even from your driveway.
Auction yards set collection deadlines, so check yours before you bid and book the truck around it. Have the release paperwork ready, because the yard will ask for it before it lets the car go.
For a private sale, agree a pickup time with the seller and ask them to leave the keys with the car. If it’s sitting unregistered on the street, book the move for the day you pay.
Stored for years: flat tyres, seized brakes, no keys
After a decade in a shed, expect sagging tyres and pads rusted onto the discs. Pump the tyres up if they’ll hold air for an hour, because a car that rolls is easier to load. If they won’t, the winch draws it up the tray slowly.
With no keys, the steering lock may hold the front wheels wherever they stopped. The driver then needs a straight line from the car to the back of the tray, which can mean pushing it out of a carport first.
A rolling shell with no engine winches on like any other car. A bare body with no wheels needs a different plan, so describe it and we’ll tell you whether the tray can take it.
