GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #15 | Page 8

RV FEATURE SOUTH AUSTRALIA South Australia’s caravan registration system is cumbersome. It takes into account many variables, including the value of the caravan and the weight. Strangely, SA’s Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure requests the Gross Vehicle Mass of the caravan when calculating the fee. But, as you know, GVM doesn’t apply to caravans (motorhomes, yes). Presumably, the department means ATM (or possibly GTM). Due to the unwieldy nature of the South Australian system, it’s difficult to present the fee to renew caravan registration. However, we underwent a mock process online attempting to register a van for the first time for 12 months. We gave our ‘van’ a Tare of 2200kg and a ‘GVM’ of 2600kg. The fee worked out at $95, plus additional costs for the numberplate. Due to the variables involved with registering a van in South Australia, it’s difficult to be any more specific. But the good news is that for the ‘average’ caravan, as described above, the fee appears to be somewhat reasonable. 8 gorv.com.au TASMANIA The Apple Isle has a lot going for it. But a clear caravan registration system is not one of them: Tasmania’s Transport department seems to confuse GTM and GVM in its trailer registration advertising, but since we’re talking trailers, it’s safe to assume this particular bureaucracy means GTM. In any event, caravans that have a GTM of between 500kg and 4500kg incur a 12-month renewal fee of $139. AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY To register a caravan in the ACT is gob-smackingly expensive. I hope you’re sitting down. As with New South Wales, the registration fees are determined according to the Tare weight of the caravan/trailer. It starts at $81.70 to register a trailer up to 250kg Tare, but in our table we’ve picked out the brackets most relevant to caravanners.