How many cars can you buy, sell and own?

How many cars can you buy in a year?

At time of writing, an individual, in any Australian state or territory, may buy as many new or second-hand vehicles as they want – so forget about unimportant stuff such as those pesky mortgage repayments, or annoying medical bills, or food for your obnoxious children… go and buy more cars, damn you!

You might fancy yourself as a bit of a second-hand car salesperson, or you're simply curious and you have a few other questions about the buying and selling of cars in Australia including:

How many cars can you sell in a year? In ACT and Tasmania you can sell up to six cars in a year before you need proof of a Motor Vehicle Trade licence*. In every other state you can sell up to a maximum of four cars in a 12-month period before you need a dealer’s licence.

* Also known as a motor car trader's licence, a motor dealer licence, a motor vehicle dealer licence etc, depending on which state you currently reside in.

How many cars can you sell a year in NSW, Qld, SA or WA? You can sell up to a maximum of four cars in a 12-month period before you need a Motor Vehicle Trade licence.

So, the more probing question you may be looking for the answer to is: how many cars can I sell without a dealer’s licence? Well, I just answered that (above). You'd better pay more attention...

How many cars can you own in Australia? Turns out you can own as many cars as you want in any state or territory of Australia. But – and pay attention because this is hard-won wisdom from an old bloke in the know – have a good hard think about all of the on-road costs, service and maintenance, insurance, aftermarket equipment, modifications etc for each vehicle you’ll incur before you buy yourself a fleet of cars... and then go buy them all anyway.

How many cars are there in Australia? According to the most up-to-date figures, there were 21.2 million registered motor vehicles on 31 January 2023 – an increase of approximately 2.3 per cent between January 2022 and January 2023, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE).

Note: These figures used to be available through the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as part of the ABS motor vehicle census, but that was discontinued in 2022 and replaced by the report cited here.

The BITRE report is compiled based on existing motor vehicle registration data from all states and territories. This report provides aggregate estimates of the number of vehicles on register by state and territory, vehicle type, fuel type, vehicle make and vehicle age.

The report also includes estimates of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in the fleet.

How many cars per household in Australia? Turns out, the state governments and territories don’t give a flying fig how many cars are registered to your household, so go for it. However, there’s a common sense obstacle in your way (see below)…

How many cars can one residence have Australia? As mentioned above, as many as you want but you’ll have to keep it to a reasonable number of vehicles if you want to avoid fielding numerous complaints from your nosy neighbours and/or council.

Can you sell an unregistered car? Yes, go for your life but, geez, you’re making life hard for yourself. For starters, potential buyers will immediately be suspicious of you and your vehicle and have plenty of questions (“Why didn’t they just register it? "What’s wrong with it?” "How high is up?").

Then, no one can take it for a test drive, you’ll have to sell for less than you would if it were registered, and it’ll have to be towed away* on a trailer from the point of sale until such a time as it is registered and legally allowed to be driven on the road.

* Not in Victoria which, at time of writing, allows the holder of an unregistered vehicle permit to drive the vehicle to where it will be garaged. The buyer will then have to re-register the car in their name, providing proof of ownership, etc. But that’s their problem not yours, so, whatever.

Can you own a car without a licence? Yes. Australia’s states and territories have different processes for transferring ownership but generally the new owner will need to pay any necessary fees involved in the purchase as well as provide proof of their identity and a receipt or tax invoice of the purchase.

How many cars can you have registered in your name in Victoria? As many as you want. Also worth noting is the fact that, according to VicRoads: “A vehicle can be registered in the name of an individual or a corporation (company or incorporated association). There can only be one registered operator per vehicle.”

Where can you find out more information about buying, selling and owning cars in Australia?

Check with the relevant authorities (e.g. a state or territory government transport department) for up-to-date information to do with buying, selling and owning cars in that particular region.

Also, do yourself a favour and have a read through the yarns on this website – www.carsguide.com.au – because we have pretty much crash-tackled every car-related topic you could ever think of.