New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[davetapson]

Register the car online.

 

Once a year WOF - I just get cars WOFed and serviced at the same time. Have not yet done sufficient mileage in a year to need a service before a WOF.

 

6 monthly WOF if the car is older than 2000.

 

Get a mail once a year to tell you rego is due, pay online, arrives in the post.

[davetapson]

Can choose rego period from one month longer.

[patches]

How does the car market work there, btw.

I see a vehicle must have a WOF and then you pay registration per year.

I believe the WOF must be renewed yearly, or 2 yearly if it is a new car. So similar to a UK MOT then?

I also heard you don't get the actual papers, it is held on the system. Is this true?

 

As davetapson said regarding the 6 and 12 month WOFs. New cars (and bikes) get a 3year WOF.

 

Rego (registration) can be bought in 1 month increments. Most people just buy 12 months at a time for cars, but for bikes they sometimes take shorter periods (either due to cost, or because they "winter" the bikes by putting the rego on hold).

 

One can put a rego on hold for 3 months + (might be a limit at 12 months. That means that one cannot legally use that vehicle on public roads during that time but also doesn't have to pay the associated rego fees. Many people do this for bikes over the winter/rainy season as bike regos start at around $400pa (so not cheap).

 

A vehicle can have a WOF without a rego but one cannot get a rego without a WOF.

 

I had some WOF & rego hassles with my Husky 350. The bike was down in Christchurch so getting a WOF was tricky (but rego I could do online). When I eventually got it back up to Auckland the WOF had expired. I took it to get retested and it failed (some plonkers at VTNZ and the rally kit didn't help). Anyway, I took too long to built the OEM road kit back on and once my rego had reached 12months of expiration, they deregistered the bike and requested that I send the plates back.

 

Sucks for me, but a pretty good system to ensure roadworthy vehicles.

 

Imagine if SA had something like this. Taxis and skadonks would be deregistered left-right-and-centre. Corruption at WOF testing centres woulnd't help either as here they can result in a $250,000 fine for the business, so not many of them take some under-the-table persuasion.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

As davetapson said regarding the 6 and 12 month WOFs. New cars (and bikes) get a 3year WOF.

 

Rego (registration) can be bought in 1 month increments. Most people just buy 12 months at a time for cars, but for bikes they sometimes take shorter periods (either due to cost, or because they "winter" the bikes by putting the rego on hold).

 

One can put a rego on hold for 3 months + (might be a limit at 12 months. That means that one cannot legally use that vehicle on public roads during that time but also doesn't have to pay the associated rego fees. Many people do this for bikes over the winter/rainy season as bike regos start at around $400pa (so not cheap).

 

A vehicle can have a WOF without a rego but one cannot get a rego without a WOF.

 

I had some WOF & rego hassles with my Husky 350. The bike was down in Christchurch so getting a WOF was tricky (but rego I could do online). When I eventually got it back up to Auckland the WOF had expired. I took it to get retested and it failed (some plonkers at VTNZ and the rally kit didn't help). Anyway, I took too long to built the OEM road kit back on and once my rego had reached 12months of expiration, they deregistered the bike and requested that I send the plates back.

 

Sucks for me, but a pretty good system to ensure roadworthy vehicles.

 

Imagine if SA had something like this. Taxis and skadonks would be deregistered left-right-and-centre. Corruption at WOF testing centres woulnd't help either as here they can result in a $250,000 fine for the business, so not many of them take some under-the-table persuasion.

 

Thanks for the info Dave and Patches.

Definitely sounds like a good system that would 100% not work in SA.

[davetapson]

And if you should not receive your rego in the post because you've moved house and maybe there was a mixup somewhere, you can go to AA or PostShop or some other places, fill in a MR6 form, pay $4.11, and get a duplicate.

Takes about 10 mins.

Edit: $4.11 is for 'printing'.  Just how expensive is printing a piece of card 5cm x 10cm or so.  See, I'm beginning to whinge like a native now...

Edited February 23, 2021 by davetapson

[davetapson]

So I see today that Tourism comprises 5 - 6% of NZ GDP.  I had expected it to be more. 
Explains why the wheels didn't indeed fall off when the borders closed.

[WrightJnr]

ISP switched. Pretty seamless. Just needed to update my router settings when I got home.

 

Screenshot 2021-02-11 070223.png

That'll do pig, that'll do!

1ms ping. Always a secret smile of satisfaction when I see that. Or as Jeremy Clarkson says....”that makes my man bits tingle” [emoji1787]

[WrightJnr]

Another example.

 

I go off to apply for my NZ drivers Licence, fully prepared for the armageddon and mad max style license centres in RSA.

 

Go to the AA, fill in form, get eyes checked. Card in mail 4 days later.

 

That took 4 days to process my application, print a card and post it 600km away.

 

First world living!

LOL. You had to drive somewhere? In Dubai, you go to any optometrist (one in every mall) and have eye test. Optometrist is linked to RTA (Road Transport Authority) so test results are automatically uploaded. Next, at your leisure you download app, apply, pay and done. Virtual card in wallet. Done. Electronic everything accepted here now, no paper, no post.

[Wayne Potgieter]

So I see today that Tourism comprises 5 - 6% of NZ GDP.  I had expected it to be more. 

Explains why the wheels didn't indeed fall off when the borders closed.

yep.

 

They are not even in the top 10 of industries contributing to the GDP.

[Wayne Potgieter]

LOL. You had to drive somewhere? In Dubai, you go to any optometrist (one in every mall) and have eye test. Optometrist is linked to RTA (Road Transport Authority) so test results are automatically uploaded. Next, at your leisure you download app, apply, pay and done. Virtual card in wallet. Done. Electronic everything accepted here now, no paper, no post.

gotta love the first world right?

[WrightJnr]

gotta love the first world right?

Sometimes things are so easy I think I’m being scammed!

 

Another example, car insurance is paid annually. I sold my car 6 months in. Took out new insurance with a different company on new car. Next day I call old insurance and see if I am eligible for a refund (taking a chance) and was informed, “sir, we were notified yesterday that you had sold vehicle and have already processed refund”. I hung up. 48 hours later money was in my bank. Gobsmacked.

 

So yes, we lucky to be able to experience “the other side”.

[coppi]

Sometimes things are so easy I think I’m being scammed!

 

Another example, car insurance is paid annually. I sold my car 6 months in. Took out new insurance with a different company on new car. Next day I call old insurance and see if I am eligible for a refund (taking a chance) and was informed, “sir, we were notified yesterday that you had sold vehicle and have already processed refund”. I hung up. 48 hours later money was in my bank. Gobsmacked.

 

So yes, we lucky to be able to experience “the other side”.

Yes, it is really a pleasure to live in a country that runs properly. I hope you are saving / investing as much as you can ( I do not know your age ) since you cannot make the middle-east your home after the age of 60. I have a few friends who made the mistake of living life to the full when in Dubai and had to leave after 60 with nothing, back in the same hole they where stuck in before...........

[WrightJnr]

Yes, it is really a pleasure to live in a country that runs properly. I hope you are saving / investing as much as you can ( I do not know your age ) since you cannot make the middle-east your home after the age of 60. I have a few friends who made the mistake of living life to the full when in Dubai and had to leave after 60 with nothing, back in the same hole they where stuck in before...........

Yip, great advice that and see daily the consequences of people falling into “the trap”. Not only can this not be your “forever home” the compensation structure puts nothing (zero) into retirement/future planning. So it’s up to you to make sure your provision. Literally, your job has salary X and X AED is deposited every month, no a single deduction for tax, savings, etc..

 

I’m extremely privileged and been able to move 50% of my salary offshore every month and have done so diligently since day 1. I drive a Golf, not a Porsche, ride a Scott and not a S-Works and don’t live in the Marina. I have been here a few years, don’t plan on being here past 50, so 5 more years before I need to uproot everything again with my wife and kids and onto hopefully our “forever home”....

 

I have a lot of family in Aus and also in the U.K now. Some also in Ireland, my heart though is Africa, I’d love to end up back in SA somewhere along the coast but who knows. Right now, living to your wise words, enjoying first world privilege and being able to save for my future. I count my blessings every single day..

[patches]

So I see today that Tourism comprises 5 - 6% of NZ GDP.  I had expected it to be more. 

Explains why the wheels didn't indeed fall off when the borders closed.

 

 

yep.

 

They are not even in the top 10 of industries contributing to the GDP.

 

A little while back I was at a braai with at my partner's former boss' house. He used to be head of HR at companies like Starbucks (global) and Fonterra. (Now he's an executive director at EY).

 

Anyway, he's a very smart and connected man and during a slightly beer fueled conversation he said something like 22% of all shipping containers leaving NZ are for Fonterra products. That's nearly 1/4 of all exports (by volume). 

 

He went onto say that the 2 most powerful people in NZ are the Fonterra CFO and some other Fonterra board member. as they are able to make decisions that will affect the whole country's economy, and ultimately kept NZ relatively stable during the lockdowns.

 

As I said, this conversation happened after he was a few beers in, but there is likely a large amount of truth to it.

[Shebeen]

https://web.facebook.com/100044610751418/videos/682061219024427

 

good

bad

ugly

 

or all three?

[Kranswurm]

Another example.

 

I go off to apply for my NZ drivers Licence, fully prepared for the armageddon and mad max style license centres in RSA.

 

Go to the AA, fill in form, get eyes checked. Card in mail 4 days later.

 

That took 4 days to process my application, print a card and post it 600km away.

 

First world living!

Yes sunshine,there are more people in the Johannesburg metropole than the whole of New Zealand.You are a bunch of hobbits living in a proverbial backwater of the world,no wonder you can get it in 4 days