VicRoads outage an “absolute clusterf**k”, says car dealer

Car dealers and their customers in Victoria have been hit by disruptions to the VicRoads website, preventing the registration of new vehicles and prompting one dealer to describe the situation as an “absolute clusterf**k”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the dealer – who operates a high-volume site for one of Australia's top-selling automotive brands – told CarExpert his dealership had been unable to register new vehicles for almost a week.

The issue has left customers unable to take delivery of their new vehicles as dealers wait for VicRoads systems to return to full functionality.

The disruption began on June 6, 2026, with VicRoads telling CarExpert it was undertaking a planned "major upgrade" of its systems.

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The upgrade affected a range of services including vehicle registration functions, licence test bookings, custom plates and digital licensing.

Some parts of the site have been restored as of Friday morning, June 12, enabling customers to log back into their accounts, but VicRoads appears to restored much of its old system rather than reinstate its new system.

Customers have been unable to renew vehicle registrations using the details on their renewal notices, while digital licences remain accessible through the myVicRoads app despite the website issues.

"It has been down all week thus far with no communication to dealers other than what retail customers can find on the VicRoads site themselves," the dealer, who asked not to be named, told CarExpert.

"We are back to doing manual registrations which involves not only manual calculations at our end, but also manual submissions by post with a cheque – yes back to the Stone Age!"

"Unfortunately for customers picking up their vehicles with registration processed manually, it will mean producing the registration papers we are providing to any law officers who may pull them over prior to the processing of the manual rego forms. In previous years prior to the online dealer registration, [the] process sometimes took up to eight weeks."

On June 11, 2026, ABC Melbourne broadcast comments from a listener, Tim, who said: "Major issues – unable to collect a new car, and a friend's kid not able to go for the Ls [learner licence], and issues with re-registering."

VicRoads told the ABC it was individually contacting customers who had booked licence tests this week so appointments could be rescheduled.

Another listener, Paul, said: "I purchased a brand-new hybrid car from a dealer in Fairfield. The car's been ready and at their yard since last Friday, but I can't pick the car up because the dealer can't register it because of VicRoads."

VicRoads told CarExpert: "The disruption was planned and communicated, with services continuing to operate through alternative channels while the upgraded system stabilises."

It has not responded to CarExpert's questions regarding how long the outage was originally expected to last, nor when affected services will return to normal.

"Was it a planned upgrade, though? Why would you do this during one of the busiest times of the year," the dealer told CarExpert.

"If it was planned, you'd have told dealers, manufacturers ... This will definitely have a big impact on VFACTS numbers [the monthly new-vehicle sales report published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries]."

The registration issues have also affected used-vehicle sales, with reports roadworthy certificate processing has been disrupted, preventing ownership transfers from being completed at the point of sale.

The outage was separate to the issues experienced by Victoria's vehicle registration rebate scheme, which crashed on its opening day. That program is administered by Service Victoria rather than VicRoads.

The Victorian Government outsourced licensing, registration and Custom Plates operations in 2022, selling the business for $7.9 billion.

MORE: VicRoads privatisation: Cheaper licence tests, $7.9b for State Govt