If you regularly spend more than $25 a week on toll roads in Sydney, you may be able to get free registration. The government just announced a rebate to help cut the high cost of owning a vehicle in NSW.
Eligibility
To be eligible for free registration, you need to spend more than $25 a week on tolls over a 12-month period. This equates to only $5 a day or $1,300 or more per year. Many motorists, especially from the western suburbs, would spend much more than this on tolls.
As a result, most eligible motorists will save $358 a year on registration, with potential savings on registration of up to $715 a year. The rebate is expected to cost the government up to $100 million a year in lost revenue.
How it works
The rebate on registration:
- Applies to standard privately registered cars, utes, 4 wheel-drives and motorcycles
- Is backdated from 1 July 2017
- Does not apply to private motor vehicles weighing more than 2795kg, such as trucks
- Does not replace the M5 Cashback, which will still apply.
Here are some possible savings on registration costs:
| Weight | Vehicle examples | Savings |
| Up to 975kg | Hyundai Eon, Citroen C1 | $272 |
| 976 – 1154kg | Mazda 2, VW Polo | $305 |
| 1155 – 1504kg | VW Golf, Toyota Corolla | $358 |
| 1505 – 2504kg | Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger | $513 |
| 2505 – 2794kg | Land Cruiser, Nissan Patrol | $715 |
| Motorcycles | All | $127 |
Purpose
The recent Senate inquiry into tolls recommended a cap on toll roads, similar to the cap on public transport. Moreover, many people were indignant about the reintroduction of tolls on the widened M4 and the heavy cost to people living in the western suburbs.
According to the Premier, the government is going to build more roads and does not want people to “feel stressed about any tolls into the future”. She believes the rebate could “bring back people onto roads they haven’t previously used”. As the Premier said, “we know this could affect people’s behaviour”.
Many motorists will welcome the registration rebate. At the same time, they will still be paying for tolls – tolls they may not have paid before.
No doubt the owner of many of Sydney’s toll roads, Transurban, will watch this development with great interest. The prospect of more people happily using its tolled roads, present and future, must be quite welcome.
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