Today is Friday 28 March and you have ONE WEEK TO GO FOR SUBMISSIONS to rules@nazta.govt.nz on changes to regulations for collectible vehicles. Start writing your submission today (closes 5 pm 4 April). To help with writing your submission visit our web site https://vsc.nz
9,000 signatures on the petition as of a few minutes ago. Can we get to 10,000 before next Friday when we send the 2-page petition and 170 pages of signatures to the Hon Chris Bishop and NZTA? Pass this email on to everyone you know.
Reportedly there are 200,000 collectors in NZ who own 369,600 collectible vehicles, so the petition represents about 5% of NZ’s collectors. Pass the word; keep it growing. And remember, the submission deadline next week is not the end; it is the beginning. Victory is not changing WOF frequency from 6 months to a year for vehicles age 40+. Victory is securing regulations appropriate for the safest sector on NZ’s public roads – our sector, the collectible motor vehicle sector.
As you write your submission, it may be helpful to emphasise the difference between “transportable” – a newer vehicle used to accomplish the chores of daily life and a “collectible” – an older vehicle that is obtained, preserved, sometimes restored, and driven for the sheer pleasure of it. The latter includes vintage, classic, historic, antique, special interest, cars, motorbikes, buses, military vehicles, etc. All share one quality - they are collected by collectors, by enthusiasts who do it as a passion.
The measure of safety: Collectibles have far fewer safety features than modern transportables, but if crashes are the measure, collectibles are far safer. Why? Because collectibles are cherished by their owners, who tend to be mature, know how to drive, keep their vehicles in better shape, drive them far less each year and avoid hazardous driving conditions.
Wrong Role: The problem comes in when an agency established to regulate transportables (it’s in their name, the NZ Transport Agency) fails to understand how after a certain number of decades, the surviving transportables cease being transport vehicles and become collectibles where the transportable regulations cease to be fit for purpose.
NZTA is risk aversive, so any change is threatening. If a regulation is on the books, it is defended, not risk assessed. In the collectible economy, the best risk assessors are insurance companies, which is why insurance on collectibles is so much lower than on transportables. We don’t crash them. Yes a few get pranged, but the stats don't lie and the collectors don't die.
The proposed change to the WOF rule came out of years of roadblocks encountered by the NZ Federation of Motor Clubs where even the smallest of changes – from 6-to-12-month WOF for 40+ was rejected as a “regulatory change” by NZTA.
It only happened when National’s Minister for Transport, first Simeon Brown and now Chris Bishop, elevated the proposal to a “policy change”. The submissions due next week are about a policy-initiative driven by ministers who are clear they want to get things done. Let's help them do it right.
To declare victory, what we call the collectible economy (in contrast to the transportable industry) needs a regulatory framework that is based on fact and statistic, not risk aversion. In principle, regulations should only exist when there is a problem.
In the collectible economy there is no problem. The problem is NZTA, a transport regulatory agency making rules for non-transport vehicles. A transport agency regulating collectible vehicles is like the racing commission regulating retired Pony-Club-rescued thoroughbreds.
The petition you signed describes the desired outcome. But in making submissions, the first and paramount question a Minister should ask is “is it safe?” In this case, is the collectible economy unsafe? As noted above, if crash statistics – death, injury, damage to property – are the measure, the answer is no. That is why for age 40+ collectible cars in the UK there is no WOF (MOT), no road tax and no onerous first-import inspection that in NZ is an almost guaranteed fail.
But if there are some specific safety risks associated with collectibles that do need regulations, remove responsibility the current group within NZTA that regulates transportables and either create a new group within NZTA that understands the collectible economy, or move it out entirely, say to Heritage NZ that would write fit-for-purpose regulations while placing the lowest cost burden on the collectors.
After all the collectors are privately funding NZ's historic preservation of a very important part of what made NZ what it is today.
Further, if needed at all, ensure the inspectors and certifiers are property trained and qualified to assess historic vehicles – very different than transportables which are mostly late-model used Japanese imports.
So to recap questions for the Minister to consider:
- Is the collectible economy unsafe? Insurance companies say no; their premiums reflect this.
- If facts and statistics show it safe, are there some regulations that may nevertheless be needed? If so, who should write and enforce them?
- How can such a regulatory regime be structured to not place undue burden on collectors?
Thank you for your signature on the petition. Let’s keep this issue on the top of Hon Chris Bishop’s desk. As you write your submission, after the ask, tell your story, because those first-person stories are the ones that capture the public attention.
Some of these stories were told in the comment part of the petition, with James writing:
"I had a vehicle which had been restored to a high standard fail entry compliance because it had not been restored by a NZ registered engineer. I was told it would have to be stripped including paint to pass the inspection. It was in much better condition than many vehicles on the roads that pass a WOF. This change to regulations would avoid similar unnecessary and expensive issues while maintaining the safety of road users."
And Tony wrote:
"I have been a vehicle inspector for 30 years including working in vehicle compliance. I have seen and helped many people trying to bring in good classic and collectible cars. In my opinion the industry has become over regulated and often staffed by people with no understanding of classic cars, and many cars have been failed for not meeting standards that didn't exist when the cars were manufactured. I have also seen cars repeatedly fail on a moving list of items that have no bearing on safety, which is a money grabbing exercise for the inspection organizations."
Or Dale who wrote:
"I own a 50+ year old classic vehicle that is inspected to a level only a modern car will pass. This means convincing a less than knowledgeable inspector every 6 months that my car is still as safe as it was 1000miles ago, despite constant upgrades and maintenance this has only gotten harder over the years as inspectors from this vehicles era retire."
What is your story?
In your submission, after the ask (the points in the petition), tell your story to the Minister and NZTA.
Submissions to rules@nzta.govt.nz by next Friday, 4 April 5pm.
And feel free to copy us as well... vscnz2025@gmail.com. If it is a good story, we will post it on https://vsc.nz