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Customers are only limited by their imagination and the law when designing plates for a business or organisation, says VicRoads CEO.
Businesses and organisations in Victoria can now order specialised plates with custom colours, text, logo, and tagline. But they don’t come cheap.
The first customer of the new plates was the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), placing an order for 300. Most MCC plates were divvied out to members via random ballot, with a select few "special" numbers going up for auction. VicRoads CEO Giles Thompson told Drive the new plates sprang from years of discussions.
“We've been spending a bit of time talking to all of our business customers for the last couple of years, working out all sorts of things that would be a benefit to them. And this idea came out of those discussions,” Thompson said.
“It's a really great opportunity for businesses to really personalise their fleet or for clubs such as the MCC [Melbourne Cricket Club] to offer a great alignment to the club for their members.”
But the custom plates won’t come cheap, with the VicRoads CEO hinting plates would be priced around the $2000 mark per plate, with prices varying based on order quantity.
“So there is no hard and fast number for [pricing], but to give some indication, the MCC has 300 plates that they're currently offering to their members and those plates retail to the members at $1,995 plus GST. So that gives you some idea of the range,
but again, it depends a bit on volume, depends a little bit on the style of the plate,” Thompson said.
While the plates have a lot of customisation options, Thompson said any designs still needed to be legal.
“[The designs are] only limited to a degree by imagination, but also, of course, it has to be a legal plate, and it has to be able to be read by camera technology and all that sort of stuff. So it's not a total free reign, but working with our team and the business team, we can generally find something that's really attractive and really appealing to the organisation.”
Offences recorded for number plate theft
Number plate theft has increased significantly in recent years, with recorded offences of theft reaching 32,228 in 2025, higher than at any time on record since 2004. However, Thompson told Drive the plates were replaceable.
“Yes, any of our plates are replaceable if they are stolen or cloned. It's best if they are stolen or cloned to have a conversation with our team at VicRoads, either online or at a service centre. Because, of course, there is still some risk with replacing a clone plate, but our team will be able to work you through that and talk to you about what those risks are, but absolutely, there's no problem getting them replaced.”
But just as with any other stolen or cloned plate in Victoria, the owner will have to pay the cost of the new replacement plate.
“If you have to get a replacement plate, there is a fee to get a replacement plate. There is a cost of that replacement. And so, unfortunately, that's correct, as the victim of a theft or a clone, a replacement, there is a fee.
And as there is with any plate right across our whole range, even for a [general issue] plate.”
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
