Petrol Station and Car Wash Jobs in Australia: Pay, Hours and How to Get Hired (2026)

Car wash and petrol station jobs get overlooked by a lot of students chasing hospitality or retail roles, but they shouldn\’t be. These are real, award-covered jobs with a legal minimum pay rate, casual loading, and shifts that are often easier to get than a cafe or supermarket role – especially if you\’re new to the country with no local references. This guide covers what the work actually involves, what you\’re legally entitled to be paid, and how to find these roles.

If you haven\’t sorted your tax basics yet, read our tax deductions for students and casual workers guide and how much tax you actually pay on casual work – both apply directly to this kind of job.

TL;DR

• It\’s a legitimate, award-covered job – petrol station roles fall under the Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award, and fixed or mobile car wash businesses fall under the same award.
• Pay is set by classification, not guesswork – a console operator (the person on the till) is classified Level 4, with a minimum hourly rate of $27.97 from 1 July 2026. A driveway/service station attendant starts at Level 1 for the first 3 months, then moves to Level 2.
• Casual loading applies – casual console operators, driveway attendants and roadhouse attendants get 131.75% of the base rate Monday to Friday and 171.87% on weekends and public holidays under the Vehicle Award.

What the job actually involves

\”Petrol station job\” covers a few different roles, and Fair Work Ombudsman defines each one specifically:

• Console operator – runs the fuel console and cash register, serves retail customers, and handles general customer service. This is effectively the cashier role, and it\’s classified higher than the driveway roles because of the till and cash-handling responsibility.
• Driveway attendant (also called a service station attendant) – checks and refills tyre pressure and fluids, fills fuel tanks and containers on request, does minor repair work like replacing bulbs, tyres and wiper blades, and sells fuel, lubricants and accessories.
• Roadhouse attendant – if the service station has an attached cafe, kiosk or restaurant run as part of the same business, staff preparing or cooking food there are classified separately depending on whether it\’s takeaway or dine-in food.
• Car wash attendant – hand-washing, vacuuming, and detailing vehicles at a fixed or mobile car wash business, sometimes alongside upselling detailing packages or add-ons.

None of these require prior experience or qualifications. What employers actually screen for is reliability – being on time for early morning or late night shifts, being comfortable working outdoors in all weather, and being trustworthy around cash and fuel.

What you\'re legally entitled to be paid

These jobs aren\’t award-free or \”whatever the manager offers.\” Fair Work Ombudsman has specifically confirmed that console operators, driveway attendants and roadhouse attendants at a service or petrol station are covered by the Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award (the \”Vehicle Award\”), and that fixed and mobile car wash businesses are covered by the same award (following the Federal Court decision in Fair Work Ombudsman v Crystal Carwash Café Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 1396). Car washers working for a car rental business instead fall under the General Retail Industry Award.

Classification determines your minimum rate:

• Console operator – classified Level 4. The minimum hourly rate is $27.97 from 1 July 2026.
• Driveway attendant – classified Level 1 for the first 3 months on the job, then moves up to Level 2. Both levels sit below the console operator\’s Level 4 rate – use Fair Work\’s Pay and Conditions Tool for the exact current figure for your level.
• Roadhouse attendant – Level 2 if duties include cooking or preparing takeaway food, or Level 4 if primarily cooking meals for dine-in service.

If you\’re casual (most students are), you also get a loading on top of the base rate. Casual console operators, driveway attendants and roadhouse attendants specifically get 131.75% of the relevant minimum hourly rate Monday to Friday, 171.87% on weekends and public holidays, and an extra 73.40% for any overtime hours – these loadings are higher than the standard 25% casual loading that applies to most other jobs, because they\’re specific to this classification under the Vehicle Award.

If you\’re not on an award at all – for example, some independent car wash operators pay under the National Minimum Wage instead – the absolute floor is $26.44 per hour from 1 July 2026, though most petrol station and car wash roles are award-covered and should be paying above this.

Where to actually find these jobs

Major fuel brands – BP, Shell/Viva Energy, Ampol/Caltex, and United Petroleum – all run career pages and regularly list casual attendant and console operator roles, especially in outer suburbs and near universities where staff turnover is higher. 7-Eleven also runs a large network of petrol/convenience combo stores that hire frequently. For car washes, independent operators (fixed-site and mobile) are often more willing to hire on the spot than the big chains – walking in with a printed resume during a quiet period (mid-morning on a weekday) tends to work better than applying online.

General job boards (Seek, Indeed) list these roles under \”service station attendant,\” \”console operator,\” \”car wash attendant\” or \”car detailer\” – searching those specific terms works better than \”petrol station job,\” since listings are usually written using the actual role title. Detailing pays noticeably more than a basic wash role if you want to specialise – see our dedicated car detailing jobs guide for pay and how to get started.

Student visa work hours

These roles are standard casual employment, not contract or ABN-based work, so they count toward your student visa\’s fortnightly work limit like any other job. As an employee, your hours are tracked through your payslips, which also makes it easy to prove compliance if you\’re ever asked. Check your visa grant notice for your current limit, since work-hour caps for student visa holders are reviewed periodically.

Watch out for cash-in-hand offers

Because these are genuine award-covered jobs, a legitimate employer should be giving you a payslip, paying superannuation, and withholding tax through PAYG – not paying you cash in hand with no paper trail. If someone offers you a petrol station or car wash job \”cash only, no paperwork,\” that\’s a red flag, not a convenience. Our guide to cash-in-hand work risks covers why this can cost you far more than it saves, including visa compliance issues if hours aren\’t properly recorded.

Frequently Asked Questions