One Man's Crusade Against The Personalised Plates Monopoly

[bravo 35]

Thanks for the support. Like most of these sorts of things, a planned strategy is more effective than going at it ad hoc. Once I have a response from the minister should have a much clearer way forward.

Stay tuned.

[Yuen 16]

Saw that and already signed it Nick, I just thought that was more of an 'indication of support' thing rather than an official one.

[hybrid 1043]

My cousin was one of the listners top writers. He still has a lot of contacts at APN (the herald etc etc) If this goes somewhere which it looks liek it is.. I could ask him to ask someone to do a story on it.

Another thing is .. DO involve the commerce commission. Telecom were in this situation and look what happened there. Their company was segmented and regulated.

[oscar90 0]

done the internet petition, and quite happy to do another one...plate prices are outrageous from new

[e30plz 1]

Again, Great work.

Signed the online petition too.

Edited November 28, 2008 by //James

[Guest SamSpargo]

Does this mean I can get GOATSE for less than $800

[e30plz 1]

You'd get some interesting looks with that number plate..

[Yamahoo 6]

I've been thinking of getting PL8SUK

[ThreeOneEight 0]

I've been thinking of getting PL8SUK

Someone in Wellington has 'NAFPL8'- not sure if it's Naff of Not Another F...cking!

[jochen 4]

What everyone here needs to remember is that a change in the current situation requires a change in the law.

So the best way for the change to happen is for as many people as possible to complain to the Minister of Transport.

[Young Thrash Driver 1020]

Petition signed... but does anyone find it rather cheeky to suggest a number plate holder?

"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."

[CamB 48]

Actually the Commerce Commission idea isn't a bad one - one of their roles is to regulate monopolies abusing their powers... which appears to be the case.

And they tend to take their job pretty seriously.

[jjs 64]

Signed.

BTW, I think PPL may have just changed their prices. Euro plates are now $299 inc GST and freight.

[martyyn 2]

Ive just seen the logo plates....so you can now have any logo you want on the sides of the plates. So how is anyone going to know whats legal or not just by looking at the the plate anymore ?

Obviously there is a slight font difference (and personally I can spot the German font a mile off) but its getting harder and harder for Joe Bloggs to notice any difference.

[OLLIE 26]

awesome work graeme!

you could just about personally guarantee plates 100 sales if the reduced their prices to $80 ish

[bravo 35]

Hah - wonder if they'd do us a group buy?

I don't expect to have much more news for you all before the new year - I highly doubt I'll get a response from my letters this year, but stay posted.

[bravo 35]

Signed.

BTW, I think PPL may have just changed their prices. Euro plates are now $299 inc GST and freight.

PPL Prices Where'd you hear that?

[greenday-rulz21 6]

BTW, I think PPL may have just changed their prices. Euro plates are now $299 inc GST and freight.

Really, i've just had a look on their site and they're listed as $399.

you could just about personally guarantee plates 100 sales if the reduced their prices to $80 ish

I'm sure you could guarantee more than 100 sales!

[jjs 64]

PPL Prices Where'd you hear that?

Really, i've just had a look on their site and they're listed as $399.

Go to plates.co.nz, on the drop down menu click products then

general purpose plates.

Enter your plate details, and click the black or blue fern plate... Will load up your plate in its new format.

Just worked it out......... Its $299 if you punch in a personalised plate, but goes to $399 if you tap in a standard issue one!

[greenday-rulz21 6]

Go to plates.co.nz, on the drop down menu click products then

general purpose plates.

Enter your plate details, and click the black or blue fern plate... Will load up your plate in its new format.

Just worked it out......... Its $299 if you punch in a personalised plate, but goes to $399 if you tap in a standard issue one!

I see. Was it always like that or did they recently change it?

Still waaaayyyy to expensive.

[martyyn 2]

Just worked it out......... Its $299 if you punch in a personalised plate, but goes to $399 if you tap in a standard issue one!

This must just be the price to get your existing plate changed to widescreen then. So they charge $300 for something that costs $30

[OLLIE 26]

whilst using carjam today i noticed the "plate type" part. It seems there is a record of whether you have a standard plate, a personalised one or any other. I assume they will have a record of whether you have purchased your euro plates from plates.co.nz or not.

can someone verify this. if it is the case then it would explain how they are using red light cameras etc ... to issue tickets for incorrect plates.

It also confirms my suspicions that whoever owns plates.co.nz has someone from the government firmly in their pocket or are a politician themselves. Why on earth would LTSA need to have a record of what type of plate you have!!!!!!!!!!!

[OLLIE 26]

Did a quick Companies register search, Owners are ...

Lubeck, Jeremy

Lubeck, Marilyn

see if they have any connections ....

[Andre3000 55]

Pretty sure you can get those details changed on carjam, so if u did buy a europlate you could just write in and get it changed?

[jrgb 0]

Great work Graham! Big thanks on behalf of everyone who has spent far too much money on personalised plates over the years! Looking forward to future news on the subject.

I've signed the online petition, plus agree with others re: contacting 'Campbell Live', 'Fair Go' and 'Commerce Commission'. After all, it's not as if we have a choice - a Euro plate is a necessity, not a luxury on a Euro vehicle, so we are FORCED to deal with Personalised Plates.

Keep up the good work,

John

Edited December 8, 2008 by John B