What You Can and Can't Legally Fit to Your Car in Australia
CarMoods TeamMost car accessory purchases never cross a road rule. But a handful do, and getting them wrong can mean a defect notice — your car isn't roadworthy until it's fixed and re-inspected. The accessories that carry real legal weight are a short list: phone mounts, dash cams, window tint, aftermarket lighting, windscreen sunshades and P-plates. Everything else in our interior accessories range is fit-and-forget. This guide covers the short list properly.
One caveat upfront: road rules are set nationally through a model framework but enforced and fine-tuned by each state, so exact figures — tint percentages, plate sizes, fines — differ from state to state and change over time. Treat the detail below as the shape of the rule, and check your state's road transport authority (Transport for NSW, VicRoads, TMR in Queensland) before committing to anything permanent like tint film or wiring.
The Two Rules Everything Else Comes Back To
Almost every rule here is an application of two broader principles behind Australian vehicle standards. The first is obstruction: nothing you fit can block the driver's view of the road, mirrors or instruments, or obstruct the number plates, indicators or lights from being seen by other road users. The second is distraction and confusion: accessories can't create glare, flashing, or lighting that could be mistaken for another vehicle's indicators, brake lights or emergency lighting. Filter every accessory through those two questions and most of the specific rules below start to make sense on their own.
Mobile Phone Mounts: Secure, Legal and Out of Your Sightline
Holding or resting a phone anywhere on your body while driving is illegal in every Australian state — on your lap, wedged in a cup holder, or propped against the dashboard included. A proper mount solves this, but it needs to be a commercially designed and manufactured holder (not a DIY bracket or a bit of Blu Tack), secured firmly enough that it won't come loose over a pothole, and positioned so it doesn't block your view of the road, instruments or mirrors.
In practice that means low on the windscreen or on an air vent, not dead centre at eye level. Some states also restrict where on the windscreen a mount can sit relative to the wiper sweep, so a vent or lower-dash mount is the safer default if you're unsure of your local rule. Once mounted, several states still restrict what you can touch on the screen while moving — glancing at navigation is fine, scrolling or typing by hand generally isn't, so set your destination before you leave the driveway.
Low-Profile Dashboard Phone Holder
Rearview Mirror Phone Holder
Magnetic Vacuum Suction Phone Mount
15W MagSafe Air Vent Wireless Charger
Dash Cams: Where They Can (and Can't) Sit
Dash cams aren't named in most road rules — they're assessed under the same obstruction rule as phone mounts. The safe zone is a small area directly behind the rearview mirror, or low in a windscreen corner outside the wiper sweep. A camera at eye level, or large enough to block a meaningful chunk of the windscreen, can attract attention at a roadworthy check even if it wasn't why you were pulled over.
70mai A510 Dash Cam
Wiring matters too: a cable clipped down the A-pillar is fine, one draped loose across the windscreen is an obstruction risk and a hazard if it swings into your sightline on a corner — use the clip kit that comes in the box. A small, curved lens also picks up glare and grime fast, tempting people to wipe it with a shirt sleeve and leave fine scratches that flare in night footage; a dedicated clear lens cover protects the actual lens, and a smooth suction mount avoids the loose-cable problem for cameras that don't need a permanent power splice.
Window Tint and Light-Output Film: What's Restricted
Windscreens and front side windows are the most tightly regulated glass on the car, because they're the glass a driver sees through and other road users rely on to see the driver by. Every state sets a minimum amount of visible light that has to pass through the windscreen and front side windows, and it's worth confirming the current figure for your state before booking a tint job — older vehicles are sometimes treated differently, and the rule for rear glass is far more relaxed than for the front.
Headlight and tail-light tint film is a different, more product-specific category. It's popular for a stealthier look, but the rule that matters is light output, not colour: tail-lights and indicators need to stay clearly red and amber and bright enough to be seen well behind you, and headlights need to keep their rated output. A film that's too dark can fail an inspection even if it looked fine in the driveway, so lighter, more translucent films are the safer choice over deep gloss-black wraps. Applied badly is also easier to flag than applied well — bubbling or lifting edges draw a second look — so work slowly in a dust-free space and take your time on the heat-forming step around curved edges.
Interior and Underbody Lighting: Colours That Get You Pulled Over
Ambient LED strips inside the cabin — footwells, door cards, under the dash — are broadly fine because they light the inside of the car and aren't visible to other road users. Lighting becomes a problem when it's visible from outside the vehicle or could be mistaken for something it isn't. Blue and red are reserved for emergency vehicles in every state, so LED lighting in those colours is off the table regardless of where it's fitted, and flashing or strobing effects are treated more strictly than a steady glow since they can look like an indicator or emergency signal from a distance.
Underbody and exterior-facing lighting adds another layer: most states require auxiliary lighting visible from the front to be white and lighting visible from the rear to be red, matching the logic behind your factory lights. A boot or cargo-area strip is genuinely useful — finding a dropped item at night — while staying entirely inside the "not visible to other drivers" category.
Windscreen Sunshades: Brilliant When Parked, Illegal While Driving
A foldable windscreen sunshade is one of the most useful things to keep in the car for an Australian summer, cutting cabin temperature and protecting the dash from UV cracking while parked. The rule is simple and easy to forget in a rush: it has to come off the glass before you start driving. A shade left up, even partially, is a straightforward obstruction and one of the easier things for a passing patrol to spot — keep it folded in the door pocket so pulling it down is part of your start-up routine.
Foldable Universal Windscreen Sunshade
Rear and side window shades that stay fitted while the car moves are treated differently, since they don't sit in the driver's own forward sightline — the same reasoning that lets tinted rear glass carry a far more relaxed standard than the windscreen. Just make sure a rear shade doesn't block your view through the interior mirror if your door mirrors aren't angled to compensate.
L-Plates and P-Plates: The One Fitment That's Compulsory
Everything above is about staying within the rules on gear you've chosen to fit. L-plates and P-plates are the opposite: if you're on a learner or provisional licence, displaying the correct plate is a legal requirement, not an optional accessory. Requirements differ by state — some mandate front and rear plates, some rear only, and colour changes between L, P1 and P2 stages — so check your state's licensing authority for the rule at your stage. Magnetic plates are the practical choice for anyone who doesn't want adhesive residue on their paint or a permanent bracket on a car they'll stop needing plates on in a year or two — they peel on and off cleanly and store flat in the boot.
Magnetic L-Plate Signs — Pack of Two
When You're Not Sure, Do This
If an accessory sits outside the categories above — a roof rack, a bull bar, a suspension change, aftermarket wheels — it's stepping into vehicle modification territory, a different and more involved approval process through your state's vehicle standards authority. For everything in this guide, the fastest way to check a current figure is your state road transport department's website, which publishes plain-English guidance on tint, lighting and mobile device use that's updated as the rules change. A quick search before you buy costs nothing; a defect notice costs a re-inspection.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I touch my phone at all if it's mounted in my car?
Rules vary by state, but generally you can glance at a mounted phone for navigation without touching it. Scrolling, typing or manually answering calls is restricted or banned in most states even when mounted, so set everything up before you drive off.
2. Do I need a professional to fit a dash cam, or can I install it myself?
Most dash cams are DIY-friendly. Get two things right: position (behind the mirror or low in a windscreen corner, out of the wiper sweep) and cable routing (clipped along the pillar and headliner, never loose across the glass).
3. Is tinting my own windows legal in Australia?
DIY tinting isn't banned, but the result still has to meet your state's minimum light transmission rule for that window, and an installer-fitted job usually comes with a compliance sticker that makes a roadworthy check straightforward. If you tint it yourself, keep a record of the film's rated transmission percentage.
4. Are coloured interior LED lights illegal?
Not automatically — lighting that stays inside the cabin and isn't visible from outside is generally fine in any colour, except where it could be seen through the glass and confused with emergency lighting. Blue and red are the colours to avoid, and flashing effects are riskier than a steady glow.
5. What happens if I get pulled over with an illegal accessory fitted?
Outcomes vary by state and by what's fitted, but a common result is a defect notice requiring you to fix the issue and have the car re-inspected before it's roadworthy again, sometimes alongside a fine. It's rarely the accessory itself that's the problem — usually it's the position, colour or output sitting outside the allowed range.
None of this is a reason to avoid accessorising your car — it's a short, learnable list of placement and output rules behind a handful of specific items. Mount your phone low, keep your dash cam out of the wiper zone, check your state's tint figure before committing to film, keep coloured lighting inside the cabin, fold the sunshade away before you drive, and display the right plate if you're on your L's or P's. Everything else in our interior accessories and exterior accessories ranges is yours to enjoy without a second thought.
