With car-buyers becoming more interested in safety, the NZ Transport Agency and Trade Me have teamed up to bring safety ratings to New Zealand’s top online marketplace.
With safety becoming an increasingly important factor for prospective car buyers, New Zealand’s online marketplace Trade Me has started adding safety ratings to its vehicle auctions.
Trade Me has teamed up with the Transport Agency to provide a service that consumers have been waiting for Celia Patrick, General Manager of Access and Use said.
“Around three quarters of buyers citing safety as a key factor when they are looking at cars,” Celia said.
There are two types of safety ratings in New Zealand that you’ll see on vehicle listings on Trade Me Motors – the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) and the Used Car Safety Rating (UCSR). Both of these rating systems use five stars to tell you how safe a vehicle is. The more stars, the safer the vehicle which means a lower likelihood of serious injury or death in the event of a crash.
When sellers enter their number plate, Trade Me will automatically retrieve and display the safety information for that model of car, ensuring an accurate safety assessment will be presented to potential buyers.
“With thousands of cars brought and sold on Trade Me each year, displaying safety ratings will dramatically raise the profile of vehicle safety in general and make a real and valuable influence on buying decisions,” Celia said.
This initiative supports the Safer Journeys Action Plan goal of improving the safety of the light vehicle fleet(external link).
ANCAP independently tests new vehicles to provide consumers with information on the level of protection a vehicle provides in the event of a crash. UCSRs are based on the statistical analysis of over 5.5 million crashes of used vehicles in Australia and NZ.
