Autofile August 2017

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The TrusTed voice of The auTo indusTry for more Than 30 years

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August 2017

Aussie write offs: nine months on It’s been nine months since the rules were changed for water-damaged write offs coming to New Zealand from Australia, however there is a range of opinions about whether it has made a difference to the industry or not.

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Number of vehicles imported

n September last year, Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss announced that light vehicles damaged by flood water will require a full replacement of all electronic and pyrotechnic safety components, including airbags, sensors, seatbelts and seatbelt pre-tensioners and wiring. The rule applies to all vehicles whether they have been imported or are part of the domestic fleet, and was 700 effective as of September 7. 600 At the time, the change 500 was announced in order 400 to “address concerns 300 that it was difficult to 200 determine the extent of 100 water damage to some vehicles and therefore 0 what components should be replaced”, says a New Zealand Transport Association (NZTA) spokesperson. Prior to this rule being implemented, only items below the water line were required to be replaced. Although the rule changes have

been applauded by some in the industry, the NZTA states that it is difficult to measure any impact from the changes on the road safety outcomes. According to Motor Trade Association (MTA) Chief Executive Craig Pomare: “The government statistics on crash data don’t capture

mediation line for some time.” As shown by the data in the graph below, rather than decreasing, the amount of vehicles that have been imported from Australia has actually increased in the nine months following the rule change. For the period January to September 2016, 3698 used cars were imported from Australia, in the Total number of imports from Australia following nine months Jan 2016 - Jun 2017 October 2016 to June 2017, 4,411 came in, an increase of 713 units, or 19.3 per cent. Australian vehicle importer, Tony Burrowes from OzCars, believes market awareness of Australian vehicles is increasing. “We often hear of traders who are new to Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun the industry and are now 2016 2017 looking at dealing with this specific aspect of vehicle Australian imports as their core condition. From an anecdotal business. If all is done as it should perspective, we are hearing far be, this is a legitimate and excellent fewer examples of flood-damaged quality product, offering a consumer problems. MTA has not received opportunity that previously didn’t complaints about this issue on its exist; remembering that only a few

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How are we travelling?

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NZ’s emissions - do we shape up? The future of Mazda

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All-new Holden VXR revealed

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GLOBAL VEHICLE LOGISTICS NZ - JAPAN - AUSTRALIA - UK - EUROPE


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