Don't blame the law change for increased Warrant of Fitness failures

Thursday, 8 August 2019

Mechanics are speaking up about growing numbers of motorists bringing increasingly dangerous cars to garages. They say the introduction of annual warrant of fitness inspections for most cars was a mistake.

OPINION: The percentage of Warrant of Fitness (WoF) failures has been rising steadily since the check period was extended from six months to one year in 2014.

Is the law change to blame? On the surface, yes.

But in reality it's an indication of the dangerous 'number 8 wire' attitude New Zealanders have towards maintaining their cars.

Lights are the biggest reason for WoF failure. But tyres, suspension, steering and brakes are also in the top five.

Radio New Zealand reports that the percentage of WoF fails at first presentation has increased from 34 per cent in 2014, when six monthly checks were required, to 41 per cent in 2019.

**READ MORE:

Just having a valid WoF doesn't mean your vehicle is road-legal. You have to keep it up to scratch.

* Slack car maintenance blamed for poor WOF recall response

* WOFs may cost more and be harder to get following a Transport Agency shake-up

* Drivers ignore free WoF recheck

* All about number 8 wire**

That percentage represents about 250,000 vehicles, according to the RNZ report.

Currently, WoF checks are required after three years for brand-new vehicles, on the balance of that three years when vehicles were first registered overseas less than two years ago, and every year for vehicles first registered on or after January 1, 2000.

Vehicles older than that still require six-monthly checks.

I don't think there's a rational case for shifting back to six-monthly checks for that very large second-tier group of vehicles. That's the classic ambulance at the bottom at the cliff scenario.

Fact of the matter is, some increase must be expected because the 12-month qualification is set around a fixed date (January 2000), so the the cars being tested are actually getting older and older. Nineteen years in some cases.

Shifting to a rolling 15 years from first registration for the 12-month checks wouldn't be a silly idea.

Beyond that, let's not forget that according to figures published by RNZ, lights are by far the biggest issue in WoF fails at nearly 30 per cent - and they are a relatively minor thing. And a common problem as cars get older (bulbs, alignment etc).

Tyres, suspension, steering and brakes come next at 17-13 percent. And they are all very important.

More frequent WoF checks would catch problems earlier, for sure.

But it wouldn't change the Kiwi culture of ignoring a car's maintenance and safety until WoF time. Our 'she'll be right' attitude and assumption that just because a car has a valid WoF it's totally road-legal are the real problems.

In international terms, a year is not a long time between car fitness checks. According to the UK website motorway.co.uk, when stricter rules for Britain's annual MOT (similar to NZ's WoF) were introduced in May 2018, fail rates actually went down from 35 to 34 per cent compared with the previous year. Small, but not an increase as expected.

In NZ, we have relatively low speed limits and an attitude that as long as an older car is actually running, it's okay to drive. We also resent spending money and even time on vehicle maintenance. These are the things that need to change.

Example: in the wake of the WoF inspector suspension scandal in NZ last year, 25,000 motorists with suspect certificates were offered free retests. Despite it being holiday season (a demanding time on the road), in January over 20,000 had still ignored the call.