Your thoughts on the new WOF rules.

[JaseNZ 53]

Title says it all , Whats your take on the new WOF rules taking effect next year.

[huff3r 347]

Not a bad idea, new cars are better than old, and it will hopefully encourage the average punter to actually take an interest into their own vehicles maintenance and safety, rather than relying on the WoF to tell them their car is safe.

[polley 916]

Not a bad idea, new cars are better than old, and it will hopefully encourage the average punter to actually take an interest into their own vehicles maintenance and safety, rather than relying on the WoF to tell them their car is safe.

doubt that will happen, there are people out there that wont replace things unless they utterly have to. ie, they need to so they can pass a wof, or the belts fly off the tyres and leave them stranded somewhere.

[M5V8 337]

I'm not against the idea as I maintain my vehicles to a high standard.

But you only have to look to Australia where they have no wof check until a car changes hands and see the number of cars broken down on the roadsides to know that's not the answer either.

[Driftit 2078]

It should be for cars no more than 5 years old.

I wonder if Insurance companies could build into your agreement that you are required to have a new WOF every six months regardless of age? Wouldn't be a bad idea on for them.

[huff3r 347]

It should be for cars no more than 5 years old.

I wonder if Insurance companies could build into your agreement that you are required to have a new WOF every six months regardless of age? Wouldn't be a bad idea on for them.

Why? They won't pay out if you crash due to the car being unWarrantable anyway, if the part that is not legal is involved in the accident.

Also, surely an increase in roadside checks has to be a positive? And is more likely to catch people driving illegal vehicles than a 6-monthly WoF ever will!

Personally I like the idea, my Falcon is in damn good nick and I maintain it well, and it just makes the whole year a little less hassle! (Sure not much, but any improvement is good).

[e38king 1]

I am all for it. The family car is a 2002 Airtrek for the wife to run around in. In the 3 years we have owned it it has gone through a warrant each time without even a comment. $45 a warrant x 6, not too mention taking time out of my day.

In saying that though, I religiously service it, incl rotating and balancing the tyres and an alignment. I can see how other people who are not like minded could end up with an unsafe car.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

the worst of the cars that already drive with no WOF (or Rego for that matter) are not impacted. will the roads really be any safer?

I dont really understand what was wrong with our current system.

[raewyn22 149]

So my take on this wof change is that if your car is over three years old and first registered after 1 January 2000 that you will only need annual checks. Does this mean because my 89 E30 was imported and first registered in January 2000 that this applies to me?

[NZ BMW 368]

So my take on this wof change is that if your car is over three years old and first registered after 1 January 2000 that you will only need annual checks. Does this mean because my 89 E30 was imported and first registered in January 2000 that this applies to me?

I imagine it will be based on the first registered year overseas for imports.

I don't know what was wrong with the old system, 6 monthly WOFs was not that hard.

[raewyn22 149]

I imagine it will be based on the first registered year overseas for imports.

I don't know what was wrong with the old system, 6 monthly WOFs was not that hard.

6 monthly warrants are an inconvenience, and I can see where every one is coming from about older vehicles. But like others have said, it's up to the owner to keep it maintained, and not all owners are that car savvy, or frankly can be bothered. I for one like to know I am driving a safe vehicle, hence why I check over it frequently etc.

Does New Zealand have a system to check the first registration overseas on imports? Would be interesting to know.

[Neal 544]

Current system is a pain in our household with 5 needing warrants every six months. Like the idea of the new rules.

3 out of 5 will only require yearly warrants. Three of them have done 77k 34k and 12k respectively and are all older than 6 years but were built after 2000 and two do less than 5k per year.

The other two IMO should be checked every six months, Ones from the sixties and will be used for motorsport and the other is an e36 approaching 170,000 km.

[cliffdunedin 8]

WOF's in general are a PITA (mine) at one time i had 4 vehicles and orchestrating WOF times sucked for me!

Right now I only have 2 vehicles but both IMO only need checked once a year. 1 - My Subaru Wagon has been rebuilt from the ground up and is in better nick now then probably new 2 - The e36 is clean and well maintained for it's age and having just ticked over 125000kms this weekend still has a few more to go (touch wood)

As with anything and everything the government enforces upon us, i'll try and abide

[kiwi535 538]

i think for most people it wont make any difference.Apart from tyres i dont think much will actually change in 6 months.The thre year wofs may prove a problem for sales reps who do big ks,they will wear out tyres before 3 years are up...no one will tell them their tyres are worn out!

[Apex 693]

I have reached the conclusion that the condition of ones car has little to do with how safe it is on the road, personally I would like to see driver WOF in the form of licence testing every few years with a proper refresher and practical test to pass, now that would be interesting.

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

My 2c

I thought i'd come up with a short list of positives and negatives off the top of my head.

Feel free to add to the list. Just my thoughts..

Positives:

- Great news for 10-20% of drivers that actually maintain their cars regularly, regardless of what the WOF check sheet says. Will save money on WOF checks for classic cars, daily drivers, new buys etc

- Great news for businesses looking to save money on brand new fleet vehicle WOF's

- Great incentive to get people buying newer vehicles and reducing the age of the NZ fleet by making older cars less attractive.

- Great news for people with a few vehicles. I know plenty of people with 3, 4, 5, cars that will save $100's a year on WOF's when they regularly service their vehicles already.

Negatives

- Bad news for people that no nothing about cars and only get problems fixed when they fail a WOF inspection.

- Bad news for anyone that only check their wheels, fluids, wipers, components etc every WOF check.

- What happens when that small oil leak that would have been checked at the 6 month WOF and had a new gasket fitted now becomes a full engine rebuild at 12 months because they ran around for 8-9 months with no oil in the engine?

- Or the above with no water? or no auto fluid? Or bald tyres? or wiper blades, or batteries...

- Bad news for people already flouting the law. Now they will have an extra 6 months of running cars with no WOF checks.

- Bad news for genuine mechanics who take pride in looking after their customers that will lose a LOT of business or have to push for more service checks.

IMO I can see the cost of the humble WOF check going up OR mechanics pushing clients for mid-year service checks to keep business ticking over. If that happens it's a good thing but won't it just mean people are still visiting the mechanic just as much, and taking just as much time to drop their car off.. The only difference will be 1 yearly check will be a WOF check, the other will be a service.

I don't mean to sound pessimistic.. Just have some concerns.

Laurence

[jeffbebe 1559]

I have reached the conclusion that the condition of ones car has little to do with how safe it is on the road, personally I would like to see driver WOF in the form of licence testing every few years with a proper refresher and practical test to pass, now that would be interesting.

+1. I don't profess to be the world's best driver but there is some seriously sh*t driving in NZ (particularly Auckland). Can they build driver etiquette into the tests? How hard is it to be considerate to other drivers??!

[byza213 1]

+1. I don't profess to be the world's best driver but there is some seriously sh*t driving in NZ (particularly Auckland). Can they build driver etiquette into the tests? How hard is it to be considerate to other drivers??!

agreed i cant believe how many inconsiderate drivers there are in Auckland .. some im sure don't have brains ,actually

[OneSeventy 1]

Having moved up from Christchurch to Auckland, I am stunned at the difference. So many Auckland drivers don't indicate (even when changing lanes in front of other cars), they don't stick to their correct lane when going round corners, and they're inconsiderate assholes when merging.

I would love to see driver WOFs, especially in Auckland.

Edited January 28, 2013 by OneSeventy

[vtgts300kw 90]

i think for most people it wont make any difference.Apart from tyres i dont think much will actually change in 6 months.The thre year wofs may prove a problem for sales reps who do big ks,they will wear out tyres before 3 years are up...no one will tell them their tyres are worn out!

Except their cars will have routine servicing, especially if it's a company car.

How many accidents are actually attributed to warrantable items per year? I can see the tyre argument, but the tyre isn't likely to go from being comfortably over the threshold to bald within a year. If it's likely to go bald between WOF's, surely this will be noted at the time?

Personal responsibility and all that.

Either way it doesn't affect me, and i'd much rather see the government pushing for compulsory insurance for every driver/ car.

[nipe 1]

My 2c

If a person is so car illiterate that he/she doesnt look after it/maintain it/whatever else THEN they should establish a relationship with some workshop that will look after it for them. Secondly, even if you are that illiterate wouldnt you go see a specialist if your car starts sounding different? Squeeks (bushes), brakes not feeling as usual, whatever else, a normal common sense would tell that person to go get it checked and if not then that person should not be operating a vehicle, guys don't put responsibility for a vehicle safety on WOFs, if you own a vehicle its YOUR responsibility to make sure its in good running order.

[jeffbebe 1559]

Having moved up from Christchurch to Auckland, I am stunned at the difference. So many Auckland drivers don't indicate (even when changing lanes in front of other cars), they don't stick to their correct lane when going round corners, and they're inconsiderate assholes when merging.

I would love to see driver WOFs, especially in Auckland.

I'm an Aucklander and quite prepared to admit that on the whole, driving here is amongst the worst in the western world... Worse than Belgium even, and that's saying something!

Apparently, we're so self-asbsorbed that we refuse to let other drivers merge on the motorway (it doesn't help that many Auckland drivers seem to think that motorway slip roads are give way!) and as a result we've had to put traffic lights on slip roads... Really?!!!

It's the inconsiderateness of many drivers (and I hate to generalise, but young (18-25) women seem to be the worst culprits) that really bugs me. Are you in such a rush that you can't wait 30 seconds while someone reverse parks, it's not hard to indicate when you're turning (or randomly slowing to a halt on a busy road), t's not hard to say thanks when someone lets you out into traffic, it's not hard to let someone out into traffic - in the city or merging the motorway - and you're really f*cking dumb if you think not doing so gets you anywhere quicker. It is hard to drive and text/do your make up, read a map - so put your f*cking phone/lipstick/map down or pull the f*ck over - you'd also find it a lot easier to use your indicator if you had both hands free!!

Rant over and sorry to hijack the thread. I agree with Old_Skool_BMW about the pros and cons of the new WOF rules!

[NZ BMW 368]

I'm an Aucklander and quite prepared to admit that on the whole, driving here is amongst the worst in the western world... Worse than Belgium even, and that's saying something!

Apparently, we're so self-asbsorbed that we refuse to let other drivers merge on the motorway (it doesn't help that many Auckland drivers seem to think that motorway slip roads are give way!) and as a result we've had to put traffic lights on slip roads... Really?!!!

It's the inconsiderateness of many drivers (and I hate to generalise, but young (18-25) women seem to be the worst culprits) that really bugs me. Are you in such a rush that you can't wait 30 seconds while someone reverse parks, it's not hard to indicate when you're turning (or randomly slowing to a halt on a busy road), t's not hard to say thanks when someone lets you out into traffic, it's not hard to let someone out into traffic - in the city or merging the motorway - and you're really f*cking dumb if you think not doing so gets you anywhere quicker. It is hard to drive and text/do your make up, read a map - so put your f*cking phone/lipstick/map down or pull the f*ck over - you'd also find it a lot easier to use your indicator if you had both hands free!!

Rant over and sorry to hijack the thread. I agree with Old_Skool_BMW about the pros and cons of the new WOF rules!

I take the train to the office, my life is much more stress free... my biggest worry of my commute is which podcast I want to listen to.

Guess we wait and see if the WOF rules really change anything. I don't think we'll notice.

[jeffbebe 1559]

I take the train to the office, my life is much more stress free... my biggest worry of my commute is which podcast I want to listen to.

Fortunately, my office is 2 mins from home so I walk, otherwise I would be a very angry individual.

[antil33t 90]

Lame, I won't be owning a new car anytime soon, nor will this provide any extra incentive to purchase one.