The 4 Biggest Factors Affecting Car Clubs Today

Running a car club, whether it be a classic club, a 4WD club, a racing club, or something else entirely, comes with a lot of different challenges, and new challenges are popping up every day. So, I have spent quite a while looking into the changes and challenges facing car clubs today, and I figured we would take some time to discuss them. 

Quick Answer: The 4 Biggest Factors Affecting Car Clubs Today

If you don't have time to read the full article, here is a quick breakdown of the four major shifts changing the car club landscape and how your committee can adapt:

• The 90s are now Classic: Cars built in the 1990s are now officially eligible for historic registration. Clubs need to update their rules and culture to welcome this new wave of younger drivers and modern classics.
• Rising Petrol Prices: With the long-term cost of fuel continuing to climb, clubs must introduce low-fuel "static" events, shorter local cruises, and carpooling to stop members from being priced out of participating.
• The Rise of EVs and Hybrids: Electric vehicles are a rapidly growing market. Car clubs need to figure out how to welcome EV and hybrid owners now to future-proof their membership numbers.
• The Death of the Driveway: High-density living means many younger enthusiasts no longer have a garage to work on their cars. Clubs can step up by hosting community "Workshop Days" and creating shared tool libraries.

Embracing The 90s

The 90s are back in a big way, from baggy cargo pants and bucket hats to the revival of chunky sneakers. But questionable fashion isn't the only thing making a comeback. If you run a car club, you need to prepare yourself for a wave of 90s cars and 90s drivers looking to join up. Because, and I hate to break this to you, the 90s were a hot minute ago. The Spice Girls formed 32 years ago, Nirvana’s Nevermind is 35, and that classic, see-through round iMac is now 28 years old.

What this means for the Historic Registration Scheme is a shift in what qualifies as a "classic" vehicle:

• In NSW, QLD, ACT, and TAS, a car needs to be at least 30 years old to be eligible for historic plates. That means anything built up to 1996 is now a classic.
• In VIC, SA, and WA, a car only needs to be 25 years old to qualify. Which means, and brace yourself for this, every single car built in the 1990s is now officially a historic vehicle.

That’s right. The Toyota Tarago, the Fiat Multipla, and the Mitsubishi Magna are now legally classic cars.

However, it’s not all bad news; a lot of amazing cars came out in the 90s. The first WRXs and Evos came out in the 90s, and the Lancia Delta, which won the WRC six years in a row, were still being made in the 90s.

Also, an important side note. Lancia’s back! They have officially entered the Lancia Ypsilon in the 2026 WRC. That’s right, the most successful rally brand ever, and the (and I’m prepared to fight over this) greatest motorsports company ever is back. 

More to the point, 90s cars now being eligible for historic plates means that 90s people are going to be able to afford to join classic car clubs. A 1973 Ford Falcon GT is a beautiful car, but the average person in their 30s doesn’t have $100,000 to drop on one. On the other hand, you could buy a 90s Supra or MR2 for $20,000. 

Because these younger, far less expensive cars are now eligible for historic registration schemes, the barrier to entry for the classic car scene is lower than before. This shift is going to allow younger enthusiasts and those with less disposable income to finally get involved in the hobby and join your clubs.

How Your Committee Can Prepare

As far as running a classic car club goes, you need to be aware of this wave of potential new members and new cars. More importantly, your committee needs to be ready to actively bring them on board.

Here are a few ways to ensure your club is ready to attract and retain this new demographic:

• Embrace the Era: Acknowledge that the definition of a "classic" has changed. If your club is exclusively for 60s to 80s classics, you will alienate the new wave of enthusiasts. Make sure your club’s messaging, newsletters, and social media actively welcome newer vehicles.
• Update Your Events for a New Budget: A Sunday morning cruise followed by a $50 sit-down pub lunch will always be popular, but you also need to remember that younger members are dealing with a totally different cost of living. To keep this new demographic engaged, you should think about adding some low-cost events to your calendar. 
• Modernise Your Admin: A 30-year-old with a 1996 WRX is not about to print off a paper membership form, write a cheque, and mail it to a PO Box in order to join your club. As a 30-year-old myself, I can confidently say I don’t own a printer, I don’t know how to write a cheque, and I’ve never posted a letter. If a club asked me to do all of that just to join, I’d immediately go find another club that let me sign up online. Ensuring your club has an easy, mobile-friendly way to sign up, pay dues, and manage historic rego logbooks is the single best way to get this new generation through the door.

More Fun, Less Petrol Events

I realise recently, fuel prices have been extreme. They’ve probably been the main topic of every office water cooler conversation for months now, but that’s not why we are talking about petrol today. 

We’re talking about petrol because the price of petrol may have its ups and downs, but it is only ever going to go one way. Below is a graph with data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the fuel price index since 1974. 

 

As you can see, over the last 50 years, the price of fuel has only ever gone up. Yes, it has peaks and troughs, but year on year the price is climbing. There is a finite amount of oil on this planet, which means filling up our tanks will only get more expensive, at least until a viable alternative fuel source finally replaces fossil fuels. 

We aren’t at panic stations yet, and I'm not suggesting we cut holes in the floorboards to start Flintstoning our cars around. However, as a committee, you need to be mindful of how rising fuel costs affect your members' ability to participate. I love a road trip, there are few things better than getting in a car with a friend and disappearing off into the middle of nowhere, but when petrol is hovering around $2 a litre, that is suddenly a major financial decision. 

To keep your members engaged without bankrupting them at the servo, consider mixing up your calendar with a few low-fuel alternatives:

• Embrace the Static Event: You don't always have to drive for hours to have a good time. Lean into "Cars and Coffee" style mornings, local car park show-and-shines, or twilight pub meets. It gives everyone a chance to show off their cars and talk shop without burning through half a tank.
• Keep the Cruises Local: When you do plan driving events, look at shortening the routes. A scenic 45-minute run to a great local bakery or brewery can be just as much fun as a sprawling three-hour marathon, and it’s significantly kinder to everyone’s bank accounts.
• Encourage Carpooling to Meetings: If your club holds monthly admin meetings or social nights that don't require members to bring their club-registered vehicles, actively encourage carpooling. It builds club camaraderie and saves everyone a few bucks on the commute.

At the end of the day, a car club is about people and their shared passion for cars, not necessarily the odometer reading. By ensuring the associated costs of your events aren’t so expensive that members have to skip them, you keep your members engaged and active participants in your club. 

But the rising cost of petrol isn't the only thing changing the landscape of car clubs today. So, don’t close the tab, but it’s time we start talking about hybrid and electric cars. 

Making A Place for Electric Cars At The Table

I realise that when most people think about electric cars, their minds immediately jump to the Toyota Prius or the Nissan Leaf. But there are some genuinely fantastic electric production cars out there these days. We are talking about the Porsche Taycan, the Audi e-tron GT, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, the Alpine A290, and the gorgeous but admittedly bored-looking Abarth 500e. 

Seriously, I’ve never seen a car look more bored than that Abarth; it looks utterly disinterested. 

Those are just the relatively affordable production cars that the average person could buy (with the possible exception of the Porsche and the Audi). When you start looking at the high end of the market, the new electric and plug-in hybrid cars are absolutely insane. My personal favourite is the strikingly retro Hyundai N Vision 74, with 670hp and 900Nm of torque. 

Now, I know that a decent number of people reading this are currently hovering between being completely furious and as disinterested as that Abarth. However, I’m not suggesting that you throw out your fire-breathing internal combustion cars and transform into a strictly EV club. You just need to make sure these new drivers feel welcome at the table. 

As of late 2025, electric cars made up only 2% of cars on Australian roads, but they accounted for 12% of all new cars sold, and that number is only going to grow. Today, not opening your doors to electric car owners who want to join a car club isn’t going to bankrupt you, but in a few more years, it could make a big difference. There’s something to be said for getting in on the ground floor of what will be an ever-increasing market segment. 

Besides, that little Abarth can comfortably get from Sydney to Newcastle and back on a single charge, do zero to 100 in seven seconds, and costs about the same as a Toyota Camry. At the end of the day, I am fully in favour of anything that puts historic motorsport badges like Alpine and Abarth back on our roads, especially if it means taking a few slightly drab Camrys off them. 

The Death of the Driveway

A key part of loving cars, particularly classics, Sunday cruisers, or even big lifted off-road utes, is the garage and the driveway. I have distinct memories of being about eight years old, lying on a gravel driveway underneath the old farm Land Rover, “helping” my uncle weld a new bash plate onto it. I remember my stepdad disappearing down to the garage every weekend to work on his HSV Clubsport. When I bought my first car, a 1999 Toyota Hiace, I spent many, many hours in my mum's driveway turning it from an old Telstra van into a campervan.

The garage and the driveway are key parts of the petrolhead experience. However, not everyone has a driveway or a garage these days.

As of the 2021 Census, only around 70% of Australians live in separate houses, while the rest live in apartments or townhouses. That means nearly 30% of the population may not have a garage, or they might only have a shared parking area and driveway. And let's be honest, you're usually not allowed to start pulling cars apart in those shared spaces without getting an angry letter from someone. 

What I’m getting at here is that a decent percentage of Australians simply don't have somewhere to work on their cars. There is a very high chance that the number of Australians with a private garage or driveway is going to continue to decrease over the coming years as more apartment blocks are built and urban population density increases.

How Your Committee Can Prepare 

Instead of letting these space-poor members feel entirely cut off from a large part of the hobby, your club can step in and provide the solution by hosting club "Workshop Days."

This could be as simple as finding a member with a property and a shed, partnering with a local mechanic who is willing to rent out their bays for a Sunday, or even just using the lawn outside your clubhouse. You can invite members to bring their cars around and tackle the maintenance they simply can’t do at home.

A workshop day shouldn't just be about the cars; fire up a BBQ, sell raffle tickets to fund a new tool the club needs, and make it a proper community event. It creates the perfect environment for older, experienced members to pass down their knowledge by walking the younger members through their first brake pad change or helping them chase down a frustrating electrical gremlin.

If your club has the funds, consider buying a few of the expensive, highly specialised tools that members don’t need enough to buy themselves, like an engine hoist. Combine that with a few spare socket sets, and you can put together a club tool library that members can borrow from on these workshop days. Not only does this help out on the day, but knowing the club has tools and a dedicated spot to work on cars makes the hobby much more accessible for members who aren't as financially flush. Plus, it makes a fantastic selling point for your membership.

Not only does this solve a massive logistical nightmare for your apartment-dwelling members, but it also means your other members who can work on their cars at home are going to come to these events to use the tools, have a feed and a yarn.

Steering Your Club Into The Future

The world of car clubs is changing faster than ever. Between 90s cars becoming officially vintage, fuel prices steadily climbing, electric vehicles entering the mainstream, and high-density living changing how we actually work on our cars, committee members have a lot to navigate.

However, these changes absolutely do not have to be a bad thing. They are simply new opportunities to grow your community. By embracing modern administration tools, adapting your event calendars, welcoming new types of vehicles, and creating shared spaces for your members to turn a wrench together, you can ensure your club thrives for decades to come.

For a look into how Member Jungle can help your car club, have a look at Classic Car Club Management: The Ultimate Guide to Modernising Your Club.