Step 1: check you are eligible
For an HR in NSW you must "have held a class C licence (except a learner licence) or equivalent for 2 years or more", counting provisional time. You must not learn to drive an HR vehicle on a learner or P1 licence. If you are only one year on your car licence, MR (two-axle trucks over 8 t) is open to you now and HR later; the classes are compared on the licence classes page. Your licence must be current and not suspended, and interstate or overseas licences are converted at a service centre first.
Step 2: the Heavy Vehicle Knowledge Test
The handbook: "You must pass a heavy vehicle knowledge test before you can get a Heavy Vehicle Competency Based Assessment Learner’s Log Book to do HVCBA, or book a Heavy Vehicle Driving Test." There are two versions: Rigid, for LR, MR and HR, and Combination, for HC and MC; you take only the one for your class. Each attempt costs $58. The test "assesses what you know about the general road rules as well as rules which relate only to heavy vehicles", drawn from the Heavy Vehicle Driver Handbook, the Road User Handbook and the Load Restraint Guide, and "the knowledge test pass is valid for 36 months". Transport for NSW publishes the question banks; the heavy vehicle knowledge test on this site is built from the handbook with an explanation for every answer.
Step 3: the eyesight test
Taken at the service centre when you apply. No separate medical is required for HR (the MC class is the one with a mandatory medical), but the national fitness-to-drive standards apply and a condition that affects driving must be declared.
Step 4: prove you can drive, two ways
HVCBA with a registered training organisation
The Heavy Vehicle Competency Based Assessment is the usual route: a registered training organisation (RTO) trains you and assesses you against the national competencies in its own vehicles, and the final assessment replaces the driving test. You keep an HVCBA Learner Log Book that "is used to document your progress in building the skills required", and "you will need to log the mandatory heavy vehicle training and assessment hours to take the final assessment". Transport for NSW’s own charges are the HVCBA scheme participation fee of $36 and $11 for a replacement log book; the RTO sets the training price, which is the bulk of the cost. Accredited RTOs are listed by Transport for NSW and, with their courses, in the heavy vehicle training directory. "In areas where the HVCBA is not available" the driving test is the alternative.
The heavy vehicle driving test
Booked with Service NSW for $72, taken with a testing officer in a vehicle you supply. For HR "the minimum test vehicle for a HR Driving Test or HVCBA is a three axle rigid vehicle with a GVM of more than 15 tonnes, excluding bobtail prime mover". The vehicle must be loaded to at least 75 per cent of its legal mass limit for the test. Pass in an automatic or synchromesh vehicle and the licence carries condition B. Test locations are in the test centre directory.
How long it takes and what it costs
The waiting periods are set by tenure, not training. Once eligible, the practical part depends on the RTO: intensive courses run over a few days and assess at the end, which is what "HR licence in a day" advertising refers to, though the log book hours and the assessment still have to be done. The government fees in NSW total $58 (knowledge test) plus either $36 (HVCBA participation) or $72 (driving test), plus the licence fee itself; training is priced by the RTO and is the main cost. Fees are set by each state and change yearly, so confirm at booking.
Other states
The classes, the knowledge test and the competency-based assessment model are national, but each state runs its own version through its licensing authority: Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads, Victoria’s VicRoads, Western Australia’s Department of Transport, South Australia’s Department for Infrastructure and Transport. The Queensland test centres in the test centre directory come from TMR’s own list, and the training organisations in the training directory are drawn from the national register for every state. Expect the same four steps everywhere with the state’s own fees, forms and booking systems; the tenure rules for each class are national.
Worked example
Example, NSW. A driver has held a full car licence for three years. She passes the Rigid knowledge test ($58) and the eyesight test, obtains an HVCBA log book, completes the training and assessment hours with an RTO over two weeks in a 3-axle 16-tonne rigid, and passes the final assessment. Her HR is issued with condition B, because the truck was synchromesh. Two years earlier, with only one year on her licence, she could have done the same for an MR.
Common mistakes
- Booking the driving test before the knowledge test; the knowledge pass is a prerequisite for both routes.
- Letting the 36-month knowledge test validity expire during a long gap before the assessment.
- Turning up to a driving test with a two-axle truck or one under 15 t GVM.
- Paying an RTO before checking it is on the accredited list.
- Expecting the HR to cover a trailer over 9 tonnes. That is an HC.