The petition has sparked a lot of discussion on the web, and in answering some points, has sharpened the argument.

Someone pointed out a warrant is a third party taking on liability for future performance whereas a certificate states something has passed, but responsibility lies with the certified, not the certifier. A school issues a certificate saying the student has passed, but it is not liable for the future performance of the graduate. A repair certifier takes on liability where they can lose their license and income if they err in their warrant. That creates an immediate conflict of interest with collectible vehicles.

In the first-import inspection, the killer is section 3-4, which says:

Entry certification 3-4: Threshold for requiring specialist repair certification:  A vehicle must be referred to a specialist repair certifier if signs of repair, rust prevention, acid wash or under-sealing to any part of the vehicle structure are evident. 

For almost all collectibles, this is an automatic fail. Unlike professional importers of late-model Japanese cars who add the $500 VIN charge to the cost of the vehicle, where the buyer has assurance they are getting a car that has not been crashed or is rusting (and the professional importer therefore selects clean cars), a collectible importer is almost always a passionate amateur who fully understands a 30+ year old car will have signs of repair and undersealing. Even if they hold off on first inspection, and have the chassis corrosion or earlier crash damage repaired by a NZ restoration shop before taking it to the VIN station, after paying the $500, it will get an automatic fail. It then goes to a workshop visited by the repair certifier who requires invasive action including stripping off undercoating, even if is part of a newly-completed restoration. 

Welds that are structurally solid but not "factory" may be deemed a fail. This is especially a problem with bespoke and low volume vehicles where the original factory welds do not look like mass-production JDM welds.  The certifier can even require holes be cut in the chassis to inspect the inside. 

None of this makes the collectible safer, but when the State spends other people's money, the regulators do not care until elected officials step in to curb their excess. 

The NZTA regulators and the lobbyists who press for such a system are not spending their own money; they are spending your hard-earned money. They don't care because it is not their money. In the case of the Motor Trade, by having a three year WOF for new cars, they sell more new cars to buyers who want to avoid the hassle of WOF, and by having 6 month WOFs for vehicles made before 2000 (and now the Motor Trade is pressing to move it up and make it a rolling cutoff) they drive down the market for older cars intended to force them to be scrapped to the benefit of the pecuniary interest of the trade. No matter how piously they argue for safety, it's about money.

In response to this criticism, NZTA and Motor Trade lobbyists may propose to modify regulation s3-4 for older cars, but this misses the point. The first-import inspection was set up to regulate late-model used car imports by the Motor Trade. It was not set up for collectibles because collectors are individuals, lacking the clout of 3,800 businesses who fund the lobbyists.

The first-import inspection is suitable for consumers buying imported late-model used cars from used car dealers. For that market, it is fit-for-purpose. 

But it is not fit-for-purpose for first-import inspection of collectible cars. Such vehicles are imported by private individuals who take responsibility (and liability) for their import. As such the inspection should be a certificate, not a warrant. And the inspection should be done by persons with actual marque experience. This system should be established by the experts in collectible motor vehicles... the specialist members of the NZ Federation of Motor Clubs.

Aligning interests is always the best policy. The pecuniary interest of car dealers will never be aligned with the historic interest of vehicle collectors. But the interest of a car club - to keep their marque on the road and not get a bad reputation from crashes - is fully aligned with the collector members of their club, who do not want to crash their precious or be hurt.

And even if they are not car collectors, this petition is raising a larger issue. Regulator out of Wellington, be they making rules on houses, medicines or cars, have increasingly been sticking their fingers in the wallets of ordinary Kiwis, making the basics of daily life more difficult and costly. Unless we push back, our quality of life will continue to decline.

If you agree, reach out to everyone you know to sign the petition.