The Vehicle Licensing Reform (VLR) programme is developing and implementing a range of improvements to New Zealand’s vehicle licensing systems.
Changes as a result of the Vehicle Licensing Reform programme will keep our roads and vehicles safe, while saving motorists and businesses time and money.
The programme consists of four projects:
Warrant of Fitness
Six-monthly WoF inspections were introduced back in the 1930s – and suffice to say vehicle technology has dramatically improved since then.
Having analysed crash data which shows that vehicle defects play a very small role in road crashes, we’re confident that changing the frequency of WoF inspections will maintain road safety while saving motorists and businesses time and money.
The changes are being made over two phases, the first phase goes live on 1 January, with all light vehicles first registered on or after 1 January 2004 becoming eligible for a 12 month WoF.
On 1 July 2014 all light vehicles first registered on or after 1 January 2000 will move to 12 month WoF for the life of the vehicle.
Also after an initial inspection, new vehicles won’t be required to be inspected again until three years after the date of first registration.
It doesn’t matter whether you own a car, ute, hatchback, trailer, caravan or motorcycle; the changes apply to all vehicles that are required to have a WoF.
The good news is that as a vehicle owner you don’t need to do anything differently. Just take your vehicle in for a WoF inspection before the current WoF expires, and the inspector will issue the new WoF for the right length of time – once it passes of course.
Check out www.nzta.govt.nz/wof (external link) for more details.
Certificate of Fitness
The Transport Agency has been reviewing its policies relating to CoF inspections and can now confirm details of the new CoF service delivery model.
The new model enables providers to offer CoF inspection and repair services, as well as allowing more inspection organisations, vehicle inspectors and inspection sites to enter the CoF market.
The changes mean vehicles can be inspected, repaired and returned to the road more quickly. This will result in increased vehicle productivity and potentially reduced costs for owners and operators, while maintaining or improving road safety.
A full summary of the changes including a copy of the new service delivery model can be downloaded from www.nzta.govt.nz/cof(external link).
Annual Vehicle Licensing and Transport Services Licensing
The Transport Agency is also working on proposals outlining possible improvements to the annual vehicle licensing (AVL – aka ‘rego’) and transport services licensing systems. They are still in development, more information can be found on www.nzta.govt.nz/avl (external link) and www.nzta.govt.nz/tsl (external link) respectively.
More information or questions
If you have any questions regarding VLR, you can email us at vlr@nzta.govt.nz or visit www.nzta.govt.nz/vlr (external link).
