You have less than 24 hours to the NZTA Vehicle Standards Compliance Amendment submission deadline: 4 April at 5 pm to rules@nzta.govt.nz.

The VSC petition has over 9,500 signatures that will be submitted, but your personal submission is just as important; indeed more important.

There are three parts to a good submission.

• What you ask the Minister to do
• Why he should do it, and
• Then tell a story that personalises it.

Ask tells the Minister what you want him and NZTA to do. Changing WOF frequency from 6 months to annual for age 40+ vehicles is not enough.

The petition asks for collectibles to be a different class of vehicle in which regulations are fit for purpose. In regulation that means defining collectibles as different from transportables. Collectibles are discretionary, a hobby for enthusiasts, while transportables are necessary… to accomplish the chores of daily life. Each needs very different regulations with a much lighter hand on collectibles.

Re-read the petition you signed for what is being asked. It asks for

• no first-entry certification for collectible imports,
• no on-road certification for collectibles where rego has lapsed, and
• less frequent WOF to age 40
• No WOF when the collectible is age 40+. 

Why? Because collectibles really are a different class of vehicle. The purpose of regulations is public safety, but unlike transportables driven in all conditions, high k’s per year by people who pay little attention to what they are driving, collectors know  and love their vehicles and how (and when) to drive them. The collectible safety record demonstrates inspections and certifications necessary for transportables are not justified for collectibles.

Then tell a story.  Here is one that the submitter copied us on.

I am writing regarding the extension of the WOF and VIN requirement for 40 year old collectible cars.

The mileage covered by these vehicles is minimal compared to everyday cars.

The owners have a passion for these old collectible vehicles and dote over them with care and maintenance.

These are not everyday drivers, but driven on special occasions like shows, classic club cruises and summer weekends.

Insurance premiums reflect the perceived risk and registration also is less than the everyday driver.

The VIN process is a nightmare for owners. The over zealous inspectors who quite honestly have no real understanding of the classic collectible vehicle industry, make it unreasonable and financially crippling to restore a collectible vehicle.

I have a friend who was getting his classic English car an inspection and was told it failed because it had no back seat. The car was never produced with a back seat but the inspector wouldn’t listen.

I have a collectible car that I have been trying to get through the VIN process now for over 24 years. A friend imported the car and was sadly killed not long after in an accident.

I acquired the car from his son and wanted to restore it in my friend’s honour.

Trying to find someone back then to help me at NZTA was impossible. After months of phone calls, I finally found a gentleman who said if I had a copy of my friend’s death notice and a note from his son saying they had no interest in the car, I could start the process.

It took about a month to get all the information but when I rang to sort it out, the gentleman had “gone” and nobody knew anything and wouldn’t help.

I was chatting casually to an AA official a few years later and told him my story. He asked if I had the pink slip from the USA for the car. I told him yes. He said to take it to him, and he would put it in the system for me.

He did this and I said due to my finances, it could take a long time to get it back on the road. He said he understood and he knew of cars that took 20 or more years to be completed.

After a number of people who were going to do the restoration work, only to let me down through various reasons, I went back to AA to check the system.

Guess what? The system has changed and my car is no longer in the system.

I have a helpful gentleman at AA who has been trying to help me but so far, it has been to no avail.

My finances have run out now that I am retired and have a classic collectible car that I can no longer afford to restore.

In previous years that I have owned a classic vehicle, the 6 monthly WOF seemed ridiculous as nothing ever needed doing at each check.

Tell your story, and if you like, send a copy to us at vscnz2025@gmail.com. If you need inspiration see our web site https://vsc.nz.

And remember, this submission deadline is not the end. It is just the beginning. We need to keep growing the petition until all 200,000 collectible owners in NZ are having their voice heard by the Minister.

This proposed amendment is a "policy" change, meaning it is driven by the Minister, not a "regulatory" change that is driven by NZTA. 

NZTA is a risk-adverse agency that is not responsive to the $16.5 billion collectible economy. This is not a criticism, it is the nature of government agencies. That is why our system of government has elected officials whose job is to be responsive to the people. That is why Chris Bishop, and before him Simeon Brown began to prod NZTA to call for submissions. But they need to hear a clear message from all of us that the collectible economy is very different than the transport industry and it needs more than a tweak of the WOF frequency for vintage light vehicles.

As the quote goes "NZTA regulating historic and vintage collectible cars is like the Racing Commission regulating the Pony Club's retired thoroughbreds!"

At this point, we have prepared the petition with 9,544 signatures, but we may still break 10,000 before 5 p.m. It is a two-page text and over 200 pages of signers, and it takes about an hour to format into a pdf, so call all your fellow collectible enthusiasts and tell them to go to https://www.change.org/De-RegNZTA and to sign the petition and then email their own personal submission to rules@nzta.govt.nz.