Onerous compliance requirements for vintage cars are looking to get a shakeup in a proposal by the Government.

Vintage and classic cars don’t drive the mileage that daily-driving cars do, Bay of Plenty Vintage Car Club chairman Donn White said.

“The average driver in New Zealand does something like 15,000km a year,” he said.

Vintage cars would not exceed 5000km a year, White said.

“I would be very surprised if many vintage and classic cars exceeded that.”

The Bay of Plenty Vintage Car Club has been campaigning for an extended WOF since “pre-Covid times”.

There are about 128,000 vintage vehicles in New Zealand and about 39,000 private motorhomes, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said in a press release.

The owners of these vehicles must spend time and money on Warrant of Fitness (WOF) or Certificate of Fitness (COF) inspections every six months, he said.

These Government proposals would include changes for WOF and COF check frequencies for particular vehicles from six to 12 monthly, Bishop said.

A WOF is needed for privately owned light vehicles weighing less than 3500kg gross vehicle mass (GVM).

A COF is needed for heavy vehicles over 3500kg GVM, or light vehicles used for commercial transport services.

“Extending the time between WOF and COF inspections is a sensible approach to ensuring vehicles are safe while not going overboard on compliance,” said Bishop.

White said that during the winter months, vintage cars are rarely used, and when it comes to the six-month WOF, they’ve only done the number of kilometres it took to get to the WOF centre.

Most of the 400 BOP Vintage Car Club members own several cars. “Some people have large sheds crammed full of vintage cars, motorcycles, and so forth,” said White.

BOP Vintage Car Club chairman, Donn White with his personal collection. Photo / Bob Tulloch

“A warrant of fitness can cost in the vicinity of $90 for six months.” This means each vintage car would cost $180 per year in WOFs.

Vintage cars are very different from daily driving cars, said White.

For a car to be classified as “vintage” it must be at least 40 years old, however, cars older than 30 years old are allowed in the club to avoid waiting for the car to be too old and expensive for restorations.

“They get pampered a lot more than your average daily driver. When they’re just going to work and commute and so forth, they don’t really bond with the vehicle.

“Vintage and classic car owners bond with their vehicle, so they take extra care.”

“Quite a lot of the cars are literally restored front to back, so they’re almost new again.”

Vintage car owners typically like to keep their cars in good condition and are very safety-conscious, not wanting to wreck their pride and joy, White said.

White said all of this means that the vehicle is “very reliable and is presented pretty solidly, so the chances are it’s not going to be involved in serious accidents and it’s also not going to fail a warrant of fitness check as readily as an average car would”.

COF inspection extensions

Certificate of Fitness inspections for heavy motorhomes are also being considered for extensions.

Certificate of Fitness inspections for heavy motorhomes are also being considered for extensions. File / Photo

“We fully support it,” said New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA) chief executive Bruce Lochore. “It is something we’ve been lobbying for years.

“Our vehicles do very few km, they’re lucky if they do 6000km a year so having two inspections is a bit of an overkill.”

Lochore said the queues at VTNZ are long enough without vintage cars and motorhomes having to attend inspections twice a year.

To get a certificate [of fitness], it varies anywhere between $250-$300.

“That’s quite expensive, especially when a lot of them sit there, they go out in the summer, they do their mileage in the summer, and they sit there for winter.

“It’s never made sense. These motorhomes aren’t involved in crashes.”

Lochore said there are 14,000 NZMCA members in the Bay of Plenty.

Vehicle Standards Compliance Amendment 2025

According to the Government Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Standards Compliance Amendment, “Evidence suggests vehicle faults contributing to death and serious injury crashes occur less often for light vehicles over 40 years old than for light vehicles under 40 years old”.

Between the years of 2014-2023, there were seven vintage car crashes that resulted in death and serious injury featuring vehicle faults, in comparison to 870 crashes of the same severity involving cars 39 years old or younger.

“Evidence suggests private motorhome vehicle faults contribute less often to death and serious injury crashes than light vehicle faults,” the report said.

Between the years of 2014-2023, three motorhome crashes resulted in death and serious injury featuring vehicle faults, in comparison to 870 crashes of the same severity involving cars 39 years old or younger.

The Government is asking for feedback on this proposed amendment through a consultation process.

To submit for the consultation on the amendment of the rule, visit nzta.govt.nz/consultations.

The consultation closes at 5pm on Friday, April 4, 2025.