South Australia was the first Australian state to give the fastest road cars a licence class of their own 4. Since 1 December 2024, a South Australian driver needs a U class licence to drive an ultra high powered vehicle in the state 1. The rule was announced well ahead of time, and in 2023 the RAA counted about 200 vehicle models that would fall inside it 3. This guide sets out what the U class licence covers, how a driver gets one, which driver aids must stay switched on and what the penalties are. It also covers the related rules for young drivers, so a buyer can check where a car sits before money changes hands.
What the U class licence is
The U class licence is an extra class that sits on top of an ordinary car licence. To be eligible, you must already hold a full or provisional car licence, known as a C class licence 1. You then complete an online course and apply for the new class 4.
The rule does not depend on how long you have owned the car or how many years you have been driving. When the laws were announced in 2023, the RAA reported that every driver of an ultra high powered vehicle would have to complete the training regardless of their experience or how long they had owned the car 3. A long-time owner of a supercar is in the same position as someone who has just bought one.
The licence attaches to the driver, not to the car. If you lend an ultra high powered car to a friend or family member, that person needs a U class licence of their own before they drive it in South Australia 1.
Which cars count as ultra high powered
The definition comes from regulation 3 of the Motor Vehicles Regulations 2025 1. An ultra high powered vehicle is one with a gross vehicle mass of no more than 4.5 tonnes and a power to weight ratio of at least 276 kilowatts per tonne 1. The definition leaves out buses as well as motorbikes and motor trikes 1.
In practice that captures supercars and hypercars. The RAA named the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and the Ferrari 812 GTS as examples when the laws were announced 3, and later listed the Porsche again as a car the rule covers 4. Modified cars are included as well, if their changes take them over the same thresholds 4.
Working out where a car sits
It is up to the driver to know whether a car is an ultra high powered vehicle 4. South Australian drivers can check whether a car is a high powered vehicle or an ultra high powered vehicle on the state's ezyreg website 1. For a modified car, the RAA suggested that a dyno test can establish the power figure behind the ratio 4.
How the ratio is calculated matters near the line. In New South Wales, which uses a similar ratio for its provisional driver rules, Transport for NSW divides power by tare mass, does not round the result up or down and does not let a bull bar or tow bar raise the mass used in the sum 5. South Australia's ezyreg check is the place to confirm a car's status there.
Getting a U class licence: the online course
The course is completed online and needs a mySAGOV account 1. The RAA described it as a set of multiple choice questions and quizzes that is assessed online 4. Passing it lets a driver apply for the U class licence 4. The course carries a fee, and the amounts given by different sources have changed over time, so check the current cost on the state's licensing service before you start.
The course covers how to operate an ultra high powered car safely and the risks of driving one 4. It also covers the car's safety systems, including electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes and autonomous emergency braking 4. The aim is that a driver understands what those systems do before the law asks them to leave the systems on.
If you are thinking about buying one of these cars, finish the course before the car arrives. Without the U class licence, you cannot legally drive it home in South Australia 1.
Driver aids you must leave switched on
The second part of the law is about the car's automated intervention system. The RAA reported that drivers who deliberately disable driver aids, for example the traction control or the stability control, face fines of up to $5,000 3. The Law Handbook lists the maximum penalty for disabling the system as $5,000 and 6 demerit points 1.
These systems are there for good reason. The Transport Accident Commission's How Safe Is Your Car site explains that electronic stability control watches the car's direction of travel and the steering wheel position, and brakes individual wheels to help bring the car back on track after a hard steering manoeuvre 6. It says cars with stability control are involved in 32% fewer single vehicle crashes and 58% fewer rollover crashes that injure the driver 6.
Autonomous emergency braking detects objects in the car's path and applies the brakes when the driver cannot 7. The same site estimates that it reduces rear-end crashes that cause death or serious injury by 27% 7. In a car with this much power, they are worth understanding well. You can read about them before a test drive on the How Safe Is Your Car stability control page.
Penalties for driving without a U class licence
Driving an ultra high powered vehicle without a U class licence is an offence. The maximum penalty for a first offence is a $2,500 fine, and for a subsequent offence it is a year's imprisonment 1.
The licence rules sit beside a wider change to South Australia's driving offences. From 1 January 2024, it became an offence to cause death or serious harm by driving without due care or attention, or without reasonable consideration for any person 2. Where a motor vehicle is involved, the maximum penalty for the basic offence is 5 years' imprisonment, and for the aggravated offence it is 7 years 2. Driving an ultra high powered vehicle with its automated intervention system disabled is one of the circumstances that makes the offence aggravated 2. The Law Handbook's page on careless driving offences sets out the other aggravating circumstances.
Why South Australia brought in the licence
The RAA reported that the changes followed a road death in 2019 3. Before the reforms, the maximum prison term for the relevant charge of driving without due care was 12 months, and the new laws raised it to seven years 3.
The two parts of the package work together. The new offence covers careless driving that causes death or serious harm 2, with maximum penalties far above the old 12 month term 3. The licence makes sure the people driving the most powerful cars have been taught how those cars and their safety systems behave 4.
Young drivers and high powered cars
The U class licence is not the only power rule in South Australia. The Law Handbook notes that it is an offence for a driver under 25 on a P1 or P2 provisional licence to drive a high powered vehicle 1. High powered vehicles include light vehicles made on or after 1 January 2010 with a power to weight ratio greater than 130 kilowatts per tonne of tare mass 1. Such a driver needs an exemption from the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to drive one 1.
Other states have their own versions. New South Wales bars P1 and P2 drivers from high performance vehicles, which include cars with a power to tare mass ratio above 130 kilowatts per tonne, cars with a significant engine modification and certain other listed models 5. Its prohibited vehicle definitions explain how the ratio is worked out 5. A family buying a car that a young driver will also use should check these rules first.
Buying a powerful car in South Australia
If you are shopping for a performance car, a few checks will save trouble later:
- Look the car up on ezyreg to see whether it is a high powered vehicle or an ultra high powered vehicle 1.
- If it is ultra high powered, plan for every person who will drive it to hold a U class licence 1.
- For a modified car, find out whether the changes take it over the thresholds 4.
- If a provisional driver in the household will use the car, check the high powered vehicle rules for their age and licence 1.
- Ask the seller whether any driver aid has been coded out or disabled, and have it restored before you drive the car in South Australia 1.
Our safety guide for buyers covers meeting a seller and checking a car's history, and the Car Domain FAQs explain what a PPSR check is. When you are ready to plan the cost, try our car loan calculator, then browse cars on Car Domain.
Owning a fast car is only part of keeping it safe on the road. Our guide on why you should never skip a scheduled service explains why the maker's service schedule matters, for a supercar as much as for a family hatchback.
Sources
- Legal Services Commission of South Australia, Law Handbook, Ultra high powered vehicle licences, accessed 2 November 2026
- Legal Services Commission of South Australia, Law Handbook, Causing death or serious harm by careless use of vehicle, accessed 2 November 2026
- RAA (Royal Automobile Association of South Australia), New South Australian laws for ultra high-powered vehicles, accessed 2 November 2026
- RAA (Royal Automobile Association of South Australia), New rules for high-powered vehicles, accessed 2 November 2026
- NSW Government, Transport for NSW, Prohibited vehicle definitions, accessed 2 November 2026
- Transport Accident Commission, How Safe Is Your Car, Electronic Stability Control, accessed 2 November 2026
- Transport Accident Commission, How Safe Is Your Car, Auto Emergency Braking: Car-to-Car, accessed 2 November 2026
