CERTAINLY CERTIFICATION IS A CERTAINTY

It was interesting reading Greg Price’s column in the February 2019 edition [Issue No. 338] on ACC levies, and also interesting reading his column in the March 2019 edition [Issue No. 339], Are Old

Cars Really Dangerous?

Well, in late 2017, I wrote a letter on vehicle certification. I suggested that your excellent journalist Greg Price should investigate and write a column on the ‘money for jam’ that a lot of vehicle certification is.

In the February 2019 edition of [New Zealand ] Classic Car in the Cars for Sale column, two cars catch my eye on that subject.

The first is the 2000 Suffolk Jaguar SS100, created in England in 2001, then driven around Europe and [the] South of France. Imported to New Zealand in 2013, it was enhanced to NZTA requirements at a cost of $10K. I double-read the advertisement, “Enhanced to NZTA requirements at cost of $10K”.

Yes Suffolk Cars are a small-scale car manufacturer but there are hundreds of Suffolk Jaguars on the roads of the United Kingdom and Europe before requiring addition certification to be driven on the New Zealand roads. Assuming the decimal point is in the right place the certification people must be using gold in the ink to justify those prices. But wait!

The second instance is a 1988 Ford Tiffany Classic, imported into New Zealand in 2012, to achieve certification required work of $60K.

I really hope that is a decimal point in the wrong place? We really do have a country full of robbers — mind you in the name of safety. And, as a final kick in the head to those people who had to pay that money out, you are in a country that does not manufacture cars, but ‘We Know Better’ than the manufacturer of those cars.

Best regards, Matthew Thomas, Christchurch

Thanks Matthew, we always enjoy people who speak their mind — Ed.