www.autofile.co.nz
JUNE 2019
THE TRUSTED VOICE OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS
Two-month target to ‘stop bleeding cash’ Chief executive says it’s crunch time for the Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association as it seeks funds to keep running
A
ll options to secure VIA’s financial future are being investigated over the next few months. They include ways to increase funding, a radical restructure, considering a merger and even shutting up shop after the organisation posted a deficit of $233,181 for 2018/19. David Vinsen, chief executive, told Autofile avenues will now be pursued following VIA’s “make or break” national annual general meeting on May 29. “Setting the deadline means we have to work through all of this sooner rather than later,” he says. “We cannot keep on bleeding cash and have set ourselves a finite period to sort this out, which is why we’re looking at two months to determine the way forward.” The association’s latest shortfall in funding follows a deficit of $264,258 being recorded in 2017/18 with one also budgeted for the current financial year.
Vinsen describes the latest loss “an improvement over the previous year’s result, but still disappointing”, and issued a call to members before the meeting to get involved and suggest how VIA’s fiscal position can be resolved. One of the motions
passed at the AGM, as revealed by Autofile Online on May 30, is for the association to investigate if a levy can be charged on each used vehicle imported into New Zealand. “Members want to have some sort of subscription on vehicles at the border to be put in place or some form of alternative funding mechanism raised,” says Vinsen. “We need to look across different ideas for different mechanisms. There might not be just one solution, but many.” The second motion approved means VIA’s national executive is
now tasked with establishing a balanced budget and for members to be advised of progress made in two months’ time. This timescale will allow borderinspection organisations, and shipping and logistics companies, to mull over the levy idea, while the association seeks legal opinions on establishing such an import charge and how it can be collected. “We needed a finite timescale for doing this to focus everyone’s minds on the issues, hence a two-month deadline,” says Vinsen. “As things stand, we have 18 months left before our funding runs out or 24 months if we trim costs. We may have to look at our structure and income.” A merger or closing would be actions of last resort. If VIA were to shut up shop, its remaining funds couldn’t by law be returned to members and would have to be handed over to a similar association with similar objectives. Last month’s national AGM
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