September 2021

Welcome to a new look update. This month we feature news about the safety rating label and bring you information about changes to C02 and star ratings, an invitation to participate in a survey, tips for traders and finally two determinations showing pitfalls where employees pose as a trader.

Safety rating label available now

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority Te Tari Tiaki Pūngao (EECA) have published a safety rating label to help consumers choose the safest car they can afford. The label is designed to be printed by motor vehicle dealers and displayed on cars for sale, providing consumers with simple information about a vehicle’s safety performance when they’re making their next purchase.

The safety rating label sits alongside the Vehicle Fuel Economy Label (VFEL), which is administered by EECA. The VFEL must be displayed on all cars for sale by motor vehicle traders and informs customers of the fuel efficiency and estimated yearly running costs of the vehicle.

Now, when traders generate labels for their vehicles, they can automatically generate a safety label for display alongside the VFEL, which makes displaying a safety label, and providing the current safety rating information, as easy as possible for traders.

Latest research from Waka Kotahi shows that three out of four consumers are looking for vehicles with high safety ratings, so the safety rating label can be used as a point of difference and a sales tool by dealers who are selling vehicles with high safety ratings and helping to keep people safe on our roads.

The label will be promoted to the public at the end of October 2021 with a social media and radio campaign, encouraging consumers to look for the label on vehicles for sale.

Fuel economy and safety rating label generator - Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority Te Tari Tiaki Pūngao 

Changes to CO2 and star ratings

Waka Kotahi is standardising vehicle CO2 ratings and updating star safety ratings ahead of the introduction of the full Clean Car Discount scheme in 2022.  Information for dealers on upcoming changes is available on RightCar.

Dealer resources - RightCar

Displaying fuel economy information online

If you sell vehicles online, make sure the fuel economy information is displayed for every vehicle. 

Just as EECA checks vehicle fuel economy labels at the car yard, they’ll also visit your websites and online sales sites. Their online compliance tool will record every vehicle listed for sale, and capture all non-compliant vehicles, take screen shots, and check the vehicle against the Fuelsaver database to verify the information is available. You’ll be sent an email with the results of online surveys.

To make sure you get it right, and for more information on how to display fuel economy information online, visit the EECA website.

Vehicle Fuel Economy - Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority Te Tari Tiaki Pūngao

We need your help

Invitation to provide your feedback on dealer training

We're interested in your feedback on dealer training, to further develop training modules to be used by Waka Kotahi, and by Consumer Protection to design Motor Vehicle Sales Act and consumer law training tools to help with education within dealerships.

We invite you to take a few minutes to complete this survey to help us understand a little more about how training typically works in your business.

Tips for traders

Maintaining your registration

Motor vehicle traders must keep their registration information up-to-date, maintaining your contact and company details. This doesn't cost anything, and it's a requirement under the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003.  

For further information, please see our Motor Vehicle Traders Register website.

Maintain your registration

For assistance, email us or call our Contact Centre on Freephone 0508 MOTORTRADERS (0508 668 678) for assistance between Monday - Friday 8:30am to 5pm NZT (except public holidays).  
 

Trader attempts to pass off sale as private - ordered to pay 

Two claims where traders have attempted to pass the transaction off as a private sale 

Employee acting as a trader ordered to refund buyer 

This case highlights the potential pitfalls that can arise when an employee of a motor vehicle trader sells a motor vehicle and behaves as if he or she were a motor vehicle trader, including by using the registered motor vehicle trader’s Trade Me listing and premises when selling the vehicle.

Jones v Chevron Quality Cars 2018 Ltd - Reference No. MVD 078/2021 [2021] NZMVDT 119 (24 June 2021) - Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand

Company director attempts to pass sale off as a private sale

The second case involves a vehicle owned by a registered motor vehicle trader that was sold as a private sale and “under as is where is basis no warranty to be given”. The Tribunal ruled that the sale was not a private sale and the odometer had been tampered with. The sale was declared void and trader was ordered to pay.

Jaques v Seven Seas Motors Ltd - Reference No. MVD 157/2021 [2021] NZMVDT 114 (23 June 2021) - Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand