Do Brand New or Near-New Cars Need a Roadworthy in Queensland?
I inspected this near-new Land Rover Discovery in Carindale today. The owner had bought it in NSW and needed a Queensland roadworthy to register it here. She asked me beforehand whether a near-new car still needs an inspection. The answer is yes.
If it's been previously registered or driven - you need a roadworthy
Any vehicle that has been previously registered in any Australian state or territory, or has been previously driven on the road, requires a safety certificate in Queensland for registration transfer or new registration. It doesn’t matter how new the car is, how low the kilometres are, or how good it looks.
A one-year-old car with 5,000km needs a roadworthy. A six-month-old car bought interstate needs a roadworthy. A demonstrator from a dealer with 200km on the clock that has been previously registered needs a roadworthy.
The age and condition of the vehicle are irrelevant. If it’s been on the road before, it needs an inspection.
Why would a near-new car need an inspection?
People assume that a new car is automatically safe. Most of the time it is. This Land Rover passed without any issues – as you’d expect from a near-new vehicle.
But not always. I’ve failed near-new cars for cracked control arm bushes at under 40,000km, leaking shock absorbers on cars barely two years old, and electronic door mechanisms that stopped working within the first year. New doesn’t mean perfect.
The roadworthy inspection confirms that the car meets Queensland’s minimum safety standards at the time of registration. Even if the car just rolled off the lot last year, things can go wrong – especially after an interstate drive or if the car has been sitting on a dealer lot for months.
Interstate transfers - the most common reason
The most common situation where near-new cars need a roadworthy is interstate transfers. You buy a car in NSW, Victoria, or any other state, drive it to Queensland, and now you need to register it here. Your interstate registration and any inspection from another state is not valid in Queensland. You need a Queensland safety certificate.
This Land Rover owner did exactly that. Bought the car in NSW, drove it home to Brisbane, booked a mobile roadworthy, passed, and had the certificate on her phone ready to take to TMR. New QLD plates the same day.
Near-new cars are usually quick inspections
The good news is that near-new cars almost always pass first time. They haven’t had time to develop the wear and tear that causes most roadworthy failures – worn tyres, leaking seals, cracked bushes, tired brakes. The inspection is straightforward and quick.
If you’re registering a near-new car from interstate, don’t stress about the inspection. Book it, get it done, and move on to TMR with your certificate.
What about genuinely brand new cars from a dealer?
If you buy a brand new car from a licensed Queensland dealer and it has never been registered or driven on the road before, the dealer handles the registration process directly. You don’t need a separate roadworthy in that situation because the car is being registered for the first time through the dealer.
But the moment a car has been registered – even once, even briefly – it falls under the standard rules. Previously registered means a roadworthy is required for any future transfer or re-registration.
