6 Things You Need to Know About COVID-19 From the AAAA
Stage 4 Restrictions in Metropolitan Melbourne

  1. Can customers get their car serviced/repaired?

Customers that require critical maintenance or repairs to ensure their vehicle is operational and safe can use your services. Services covering essential and critical ‘Vehicle repair, servicing and maintenance’ are permitted to open for on-site work with a COVID Safe Plan in place.  Our CEO, Stuart Charity, shared with members “Enforcement of the Stage 4 restrictions is likely to be comprehensive and I cannot stress enough that a ‘business as usual’ attitude is not going to work”. Every site permitted to operate under these restrictions must comply with Victoria State Government regulations – AAAA has provided critical information and forms to help you do this.

  1. How far customers can travel

Customers should not travel further than 5km from their place of residence unless there is no alternative. Documentation/evidence of why customers are travelling should be arranged between the business and customer. We have created an easy to use Customer Accessing Workshops During Lockdown template that you can fill out and provide to your customers so they have peace of mind travelling to your workplace.

  1. Parts supply confusion

Yes, supply of Repair and Critical Maintenance Parts is permitted.  We can see that Warehousing of Auto Parts is specifically mentioned as prohibited, however, the supply of parts for Automotive Repair and Critical Maintenance is allowed, as is the supply of parts for permitted industries (for example; road freight transport, health, defence and emergency services) and fulfilling online orders. Reference our guidelines for members on Stage 4 Sub Sector Breakdown and Principles for more information. The full list of Stage 4 Businesses Open and Closed is also provided.

  1. Reasons to travel to work

The wording for the Work Permit was changed late in the government’s process (at 11pm 5th August). This is important because the fines for misleading work permits are penalties of up to $19,826 for individuals and $99,132 for businesses – these penalties can be imposed on employers who issue worker permits to employees who do not meet the scheme’s requirements. There are also on-the-spot fines of $1,652 for individuals and up to $9,913 for businesses. These can be issued to those who do not carry their permits when travelling to and from work. We have provided the list of DHHS – Permitted Work Premises and the Permitted Worker Permit Form for your reference.  

  1. COVID Safe Plan

Workplaces with over 5 employees that remain open must have a COVID Safe Plan and it must be operational by 11.59pm Friday (tonight). In the AAAA Member Portal there are 3 COVID Safe Plan resources available (COVID Safe Plans – 4 Aug,  Business Victoria COVID Safe Plan – Form Guidance and Business Victoria COVID Safe Plan – Form Template). Part of a COVID Safe Plan is to have a visitor register (Workplace Attendance Register Template) which is also available on our website. A visitor register is required for every business, even if you are under 5 employees.

  1. Permitted Worksite Door Sign and Statement

We have produced a Permitted Worksite Door Sign and Permitted Worksite Notice for permitted businesses that remain operational for onsite business, to display they are legally able to remain open and to provide to relevant Government authorities if required. Complete this template with your details and print it out for your business premises.

Please refer to the AAAA’s  Victoria Stage 4 Lockdown – Critical Information and Forms & Templates webpage for all of the above documents and other resources to help you respond to this situation.

Our industry is ready to obey the letter and the spirit of the restrictions to keep our communities safe. AAAA continues to have a strong dialogue with government and is committed to supporting our automotive supply chain and our independent repair and service workshops. Let’s all be safe and do the right thing.