One Man's Crusade Against The Personalised Plates Monopoly

[bravo 35]

Email to AA:

Membership # *************** 10YR+ member.

Dear AA,

Once again I am becoming frustrated with the myriad of ways motorists are expected to part with their cash.

My current concern is with the monopoly enjoyed by plates.co.nz, and the resultant prices.

As a long-time AA member I was wondering if my Automobile Association might be able to help me.

The issues are simple and I will try to be brief.

Plates have continually increased their prices for vehicle registration plates to the point where they are ridiculously high. Wait, you may be thinking - it's a case of supply and demand - personalised plates have a finite supply and prices surely reflect this?

Not so, my gripe is with the cost of obtaining a different design plate for the government issue plate number.

I own a European vehicle, as such, the standard nz plates look out of place on the long, narrow area on the bumper for the plate and reveal unsghtly mounting holes. Additionally I have to find an alternative way to mount my plates (usually by damaging the vehicle in some way).

All I would like to do is replace the standard plate with one of the attractive nz-style euro-plates available at Plates. I wish to keep my standard government-issue registration number. No personalised plate required!

Plates want $400 for the privilege of approving manufacturer of two small pieces of aluminium which cost (retail) $32.50 for Licensys (the official manufacturer) to make. Plates charge 1200% of the manufacture fee to enter a few details in a database, and end some paperwork in the mail!

Surely the motorist should be able to surrender old plates at the post office for a small fee, receive a receipt for surrender, and then supply this plus $32.50 to Licensys for a new set of plates in whatever style they like? What is the $400 for? Why does the government allow plates this monopoly without regulation?

It is possible to obtain an exact replica of the nzplates from overseas - correct size, reflective background, etc. the letters are an almost indistinguishable different font - for $80 shipped from Europe. These, however are illegal, attracting a $200 fine.

Something needs to be done. If Plates were to charge a more reasonable fee (say $80) then I would have no problem with this.

There are other issues surrounding registration plates in nz, but for now this is the most ridiculous one.

Please help.

Email from AA:

Hi Graham. Thanks for your interesting email which I passed onto an adviser at the Ministry of Transport for a response, which is copied below.

I think these address the issues you raised: a plate manufactured overseas would be deemed to be illegal as it was not issued under the authority given to Licensys or Personalised Plates. You may not be aware, but to prevent fraud, official NZ plates are manufactured with silver ferns embossed in the background, although these can only be seen at an angle. A legitimate question may be, if a plate manufactured overseas is outwardly to the same specification as official plates, then how will anybody know they are illegal (other than close inspection)? That is a risk you may want to take (although I’m not suggesting you do), but Hugh tells me that an enforcement officer has been targeting illegal plates in Auckland.

The MoT are aware of complaints regarding Personalised Plates’ monopoly, and have recommended changes in a Bill currently before parliament. They can’t tell us what they have recommended, but reading between the lines they have obviously suggested changes that aim to address these sorts of complaints. The Bill may be reported back within the first quarter of 2009, so I would take his advice to raise your concerns with the Minister. In the meantime, we will do likewise.

Regards,

Mark Stockdale

SENIOR POLICY ANALYST

The New Zealand Automobile Association Incorporated

[bravo 35]

Email from MoT:

Imported Plates

The Transport (Vehicle and Driver Registration and Licensing Act) defines a registration plate as a plate “issued under the Transport Act or this Act.” As the imported plates were “issued” by an overseas retailer who has no authority to issue NZ plates they are not considered to be legitimate plates, even if the number stamped on the plate is a legitimate number assigned to the vehicle to which the purchaser of the plate wishes to attach the plate. The same situation applies if the vehicle owner has lost a plate and makes a replacement himself.

Prices charged by Personalised Plates Ltd

We have received, over the years some correspondence about the prices charged by Personalised Plates Ltd (PPL) for its products and the monopoly nature of its business. We have given advice on this matter to the Select Committee considering the Land Transport Bill (No4). Our advice to the Committee is confidential at this stage but will be released when the Bill is reported back to the House. In view of the change of government we do not yet know when the Bill will be reported back.

Options for your member

If he wishes to draw the new government’s attention to this matter I suggest that he write to Hon Stephen Joyce, Minister of Transport, setting out his concerns.

Another option which you might want to think about is whether it would be possible to develop and market an adapter which would be the size of the European standard plates and fit into the mounting holes on European cars. The standard size NZ plate would then bolt onto the adapter – avoiding the need to drill holes into the car. An adapter would not, we believe, be covered by PPL’s monopoly but we would strongly advise you to get legal advice about this if you wanted to proceed. If the adaptor was the same colour and height as the NZ plate bolted to it, it would look pretty much like it was part of it from a distance. And of course you could include a logo on each side as per the Europlates – though you would need to check whether PPL has copyrighted the logos it prints on its plates.

Regards

Hugh Hanna

Principal Adviser

Ministry of Transport

PO Box 3014

Christchurch Mail Centre

Christchurch 8140

(03) 366 9285

[bravo 35]

Interesting opinion of the MoT adviser re- plate adapter lol.

A written letter to Stephen Joyce cc John Carter will be on its way soon.

[M325is 0]

Good work!

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

nice effort!

Something does need to be done..

Laurence

[Braeden320 0]

Love your work, Keep us updated

[greenday-rulz21 6]

Good on you mate.

Send a letter in to Campbell Live or Fair Go. Negative publicity owns.

[3 SERIES 93]

Well Done! About time someone did something about this bull$hit

[Driftit 2080]

Great work. Also agree with Campbell Live and Fair Go.

So glad I got my plate before Plates decided they will triple the price of them and limit what you can now have.

Edited November 28, 2008 by driftit

[_BRS_ 209]

nice to see some action being taken, would be keen to see the outcomes in the future, cheers mate

[martyyn 2]

Great job Bravo let us know if you want to start a petition

I was on the plates site the other day to remind myself just how expensive they are. I spec'd up a plate and got the price and bailed when it came back with $700 alone for the basic plate. Didnt they used to be $250 when they started?

Anyway a couple of minutes later I got a nice email from Melanie at plates.co.nz asking if she could help as something had gone wrong with my 'purchase'. So of course I asked her to confirm the $700 price and confirm what exactly constitutes a 'premium' plate.

There was an immediate reply about how they were good value at this price and some stats on how many plates are sold each week etc so I asked her to explain why a plate costing $30 to produce was selling for $700.....Im still waiting for her to reply

[pjay 8]

Wow talk about sales... Trying to snag you even after you bailed.

sh*t, i bought mine for much less. Second hand personalized plates win

[cainchapman 0]

Good plan. Rod and I were discussing this over breakfast at the office today.

My front plate has disappeared and I need to replace it.

Outside of the need for a 2nd tool, I doubt the actual manufacturing costs are significantly different.

[Guest Simon*]

Way to go Graham you've got my support mate

[hybrid 1043]

I got pulled up for my reflective sticker on my front bumper the other day. Told the cop im not paying $400 for something I already 'own'. He laughed and actually let me off ... good bugger he was.

[zenetti 0]

Nice work Bravo, I suggest you also send that letter to the commerce commission as I think they have more "teeth" when it comes to this sort of thing. Definitely go to JC or Fair Go!

[Cale 36]

Good stuff Graham.

I started a online petition to see what kind of support we have got.

[westy 614]

Go hard Graham.

Perhaps you can write a letter, post it here, we can all sign one and send a copy each.

[tire 10]

I dont really know what you're all on about about but I did the petition

[greenday-rulz21 6]

I dont really know what you're all on about about but I did the petition

??

Someone should post a link to the petition on Eurosport.co.nz. Widen the the audience as much as possible.

[1rotty 40]

Great work.I've signed

[bradc 0]

I found this funny. Just picture the beetle with dope growing all over it

I was happy to find out that S70 V12 is still available, but forget it for $799!

Edited November 28, 2008 by bradc

[Gus 5]

Go on DonQ! Nice work

[Yuen 16]

Great work! Will be very keen to see how this develops. You have my support if it comes to a petition.

[greenday-rulz21 6]

Great work! Will be very keen to see how this develops. You have my support if it comes to a petition.

I started a online petition to see what kind of support we have got.