You can still book a Moderncar today. Behind the brand sit three legal entities, and two face formal action this year.

You can still go to Moderncar's website, choose a vehicle and be told to pay a refundable deposit of up to $400.

On 2 October, the Tax Office is due in the Federal Court asking for the company behind Moderncar's rentals to be wound up.

And the Moderncar brand turns out to sit across more than one legal identity. A second company using Moderncar branding already has a formal ASIC status of External Administration, following a controller appointment six weeks before the Tax Office even filed.

Planet 9 has not been wound up. Khela Enterprises is under external administration through a controller appointment, not liquidation. The Khela Family Trust shows no distress notice of its own. But the legal-entity picture behind "Moderncar" is more complicated than the booking screen suggests, and that matters if you have money or a vehicle tied up in it.

Owed money, holding a booking, or waiting on a deposit?

Your position depends on which of these entities you actually dealt with, and Moderncar's own booking screen does not tell you.

The court case does not have "Moderncar" in its title. It is: Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Planet 9 Logistics Pty Ltd, ACN 163 250 904.

That sounds like a logistics company.

Moderncar's own rental terms reveal the connection. They say the rental agreement is between the customer and Planet 9 Logistics Pty Ltd trading as ModernCar Car and Truck Rentals, ABN 28 163 250 904. The Australian Business Register separately records MODERNCAR and MODERNCAR CAR & TRUCK RENTALS as current business names of Planet 9 Logistics, held since December 2014.

So the chain is direct: Moderncar leads to Planet 9 Logistics, ACN 163 250 904, leads to Federal Court file VID888/2026.

A customer looking for a rental car would probably never search for Planet 9 Logistics. A person reading the court list would probably never guess Planet 9 was the company behind a consumer car-rental brand. The two records only become meaningful when they are connected.

Moderncar's current umbrella site markets rentals, tyres and automotive service, towing and recovery, and paint and panel work together from the same North Geelong site, under a shared phone number and shared branding.

The Australian Business Register shows those businesses do not all sit under Planet 9.

Planet 9 Logistics holds the rental names, Moderncar and Moderncar Car & Truck Rentals. A separate entity, the Trustee for Khela Family Trust, currently holds Moderncar Tyres & Automotive Services, Next Force Towing & Breakdown Services, and Moderncar Paint and Panels.

This isn't new. The Khela Family Trust previously held Moderncar Car & Truck Rentals Geelong, from 11 May 2018 to 4 November 2021, and before that Red Stop Car & Truck Rental, from 26 September 2014 to 23 April 2021. For more than three years, from 2018 to 2021, Planet 9 and the Khela Family Trust simultaneously held near-identical Moderncar-branded rental business names. The Australian Business Register also shows the trust's registered main business location moved from postcode 3024 to 3215, where the current North Geelong site sits, on 1 April 2019, in the middle of that same window.

None of that establishes common ownership between Planet 9 Logistics and the Khela Family Trust. It does establish that the Moderncar rental brand has crossed legal-entity boundaries before, not just once, and that a customer cannot assume "Moderncar" means one company.

One company faces a winding-up hearing. Another has a controller appointment. Same brand. Source: ASIC register, ASIC Series 1 and 2 insolvency data, Federal Court file.

There is a third legal entity in Moderncar's public-facing network: Khela Enterprises Pty Ltd, ACN 168 889 236.

Khela Enterprises' own LinkedIn company page, checked directly, names the company Khela Enterprises Pty Ltd, lists its website as moderncar.com.au, and gives its primary location as 35 Rodney Road, North Geelong. Its "About us" describes vehicle repairs, towing and paint and panel services, the same services registered to the Khela Family Trust's business names. But its posts market the rental and logistics side too, under both the ModernCar and Planet 9 Logistics names. One post reads: "ModernCar Car & Truck Rental, part of the trusted Planet 9 group, makes getting around easy, flexible, and stress-free." That is the company's own description of itself, first-party corporate material, not an ASIC-recorded relationship between the entities.

ASIC's own company register currently lists Khela Enterprises' status as External Administration. TOR's own copy of ASIC's Series 1 and 2 insolvency-appointment data, published 14 September 2026, records the reason: a controller, Capital Finance Australia Limited (ACN 069 663 136), was appointed over Khela Enterprises on 27 June 2026. The appointment type recorded is "controller appointed (except receiver or managing controller)," a specific category distinct from a receiver or managing controller appointment. Capital Finance Australia's own material describes commercial vehicle and equipment finance, including chattel mortgages and finance leases.

ASIC Connect separately confirms Khela Enterprises' registered office locality as Geelong North VIC 3215, and shows two documents lodged with ASIC on 2 July 2026, consistent with a controller appointment landing on the file days after the 27 June effective date.

Among the three entities identified here, the first formal 2026 distress event we found was not the Tax Office application. It was Khela Enterprises' controller appointment, six weeks earlier.

What this does not establish: the exact legal relationship between Khela Enterprises and Planet 9 Logistics or the Khela Family Trust; what assets the controller appointment covers; or that Capital Finance Australia has taken any action affecting Moderncar's vehicles, bookings or customers. This article does not say Khela Enterprises owns Planet 9, or the reverse, and Khela Enterprises marketing itself alongside the Planet 9 and Moderncar names is not the same thing as a "related body corporate" in the technical, ownership sense that term carries in Australian corporate law. It says a third entity that publicly presents itself as part of the same operation has its own, separate, and earlier formal distress event on ASIC's register.

Moderncar is not a business where the transaction ends the moment money changes hands. The website advertises future bookings, refundable deposits, longer-term rentals and vehicles that can remain in a customer's possession for weeks.

Its current site advertises car rentals, commercial vehicle rentals, rentals longer than 30 days through "Mini Lease," airport pickup, doorstep delivery, additional damage cover, and 24-hour roadside assistance. Customers are told they may need to pay a $200 credit-card deposit or $400 debit-card deposit. The site says refunds can take between five and 15 business days.

We have found no evidence that Moderncar has failed to refund anyone, cancelled bookings or stopped supplying vehicles. There is also no evidence that a current customer has lost money.

But the business model means people can have open transactions stretching into the future. Someone could have a car booked for next week. Someone could be waiting for a deposit refund. A business could have a van on a longer-term rental. A customer could already have one of Moderncar's vehicles, or a vehicle in for tyres, paint or panel work with the Khela Family Trust's workshop. Another could be dealing with an accident, repair, insurance issue or damage claim.

Those are not claims that these things have gone wrong. They are the kinds of ongoing relationships this business model creates, while the public-facing Moderncar operation maps to at least three separate legal entities.

Nothing on Moderncar's public-facing website tells a customer that the company behind the brand faces a winding-up hearing on 2 October, or that another company publicly associated with the Moderncar brand is under external administration. The booking forms remain visible. The deposit terms remain visible.

That does not prove every displayed service is currently operating. There are reasons to be cautious about using the website as evidence of current size or activity: some pages appear dated, the footer ends in 2025, some blog posts display 1 January 1970, and some counters show zero vehicles available. None of that proves financial distress on its own. It means the website should not be used to estimate fleet size, customer numbers or current trading volume.

The important fact is narrower: the site still presents the public with a pathway to book vehicles and pay deposits, without disclosing either formal process.

Planet 9 Logistics Pty Ltd, ACN 163 250 904, trading as Moderncar and Moderncar Car & Truck Rentals, faces a winding-up application filed by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation on 7 August 2026, with a Federal Court hearing listed for 2 October. The Moderncar-branded tyre, towing and paint-and-panel business names are currently registered to a different entity, the Trustee for Khela Family Trust, which has held Moderncar-branded rental names in the past and shows no current distress notice. A third company publicly associated with the Moderncar network, Khela Enterprises Pty Ltd, has an ASIC status of External Administration following a controller appointment by Capital Finance Australia Limited on 27 June 2026, six weeks before the Tax Office's application against Planet 9.

The public court docket does not disclose how much the Tax Office says it is owed, or publicly identify the proposed liquidator in the Planet 9 matter. It does not tell us whether Planet 9 disputes the claim or expects the hearing to proceed. A winding-up application is not a winding-up order: applications can be paid out, adjourned, dismissed, or result in an order, and as of 25 September none of those outcomes has occurred.

Separately, the record does not establish the corporate ownership relationship between Planet 9 Logistics, Khela Enterprises and the Khela Family Trust; what assets the Capital Finance controller appointment covers; the current registered proprietor of the North Geelong premises; or the substance of an environmental record some sources associate with the address, which this article has not independently verified and does not report as fact. It also does not establish that any current customer has lost money.

Look for the legal entity on your own booking confirmation, invoice, receipt or workshop docket, not just the Moderncar name. The public registers associate the rental names with Planet 9 Logistics Pty Ltd (ACN 163 250 904) and the tyre, towing and paint-and-panel names with the Trustee for Khela Family Trust (ABN 79 792 293 418), and Khela Enterprises Pty Ltd (ACN 168 889 236) is the entity under external administration. But your own document determines who you actually contracted with.

If you have a current booking, are waiting on a deposit refund, or have an open damage, insurance or repair claim, keep your correspondence, payment records and any promised dates in writing.

If you're a trade creditor or supplier of any of these three entities, keep your purchase orders, invoices, delivery records and statements, and confirm exactly which one you contracted with.

Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Planet 9 Logistics Pty Ltd, ACN 163 250 904. Federal Court of Australia, Victoria Registry. File VID888/2026. This is a winding-up application, not a winding-up order. No court order has been made against Planet 9 Logistics as of 25 September 2026. Separately, Khela Enterprises Pty Ltd, ACN 168 889 236, is not before a court; its ASIC status of External Administration follows a controller appointment, a different process from a winding-up proceeding.