New WOF rules

[iOnic]

Keep babying them and they'll never change.
Besides, if the a average kiwi is a total idiot with regard to vehicle safety, how do Americans get on?

[tsoob]

Keep babying them and they'll never change.
Besides, if the a average kiwi is a total idiot with regard to vehicle safety, how do Americans get on?

0% interest on leasing a new car has a lot to do with that.

[Leon]

They actually service their cars over there, and run them through exhaust emission tests, so that they actually get engine and sensor maintenance (not just tyres and wheel bearings etc). Because they have to.

Outside the snow states, it's worth mentioning that they're getting quite a few cars on really high mileage without engine rebuilds. Surely that can't be a co-incidence.

Yup they scrap lots of cars that we'd consider modern, but that's got a lot to do with the above mentioned incredible finance deals they can get, plus also they can donate them to charity for a tax write off.

[TTEETT]

Personally I would like to see drivers have to go and do a WOF every so often, maybe every three years, it’s the not the cars that scare me it’s the people driving them.

I would also like to see a registration that is based on kilometers traveled, so if you only do small millage (two of my three cars are well under 10,000km a year) you pay accordingly.



The new WOF plan works well for me though, my companies car will still be yearly and going forward the new company car I buy next year will not need renewed WOF in the time I own it under its factory warranty, my race car will be yearly (being a 2006 it has only just come off its yearly) which is handy seeing I do 5-8,000km a year in it and my run around cart all hack will still be six monthly.. and still fail every six months.

One thing to note, in the first 12 months of my current car being new it had had 10 new tyres put on it due to wear over 30,000km, some new performance tyres are only good to 10,000km and if brand new cars have a three year WOF I could see some people driving around oblivious to he fact their tyres are not safe.. I think they may need to run a campaign educating people on how to monitor tyre wear, its easy to overlook, especially if your tyres are worn on the inside, I have been caught out with this.

[sergei]

the biggest problem is that most Kiwis equate WOF to servicing.
They are under impression if something is wrong with car it will be picked up by WOF check.
That could be the case if their mechanic does WOF also does the service as value add sort of thing, but in most cases they just go through VTNZ/AA monkeys.
If people have relationship with their mechanic, then they should be fine, but finding trust worthy mechanics is very difficult as there are way too many cowboys. If they would introduce some form of qualification and ethics of being a mechanic, then it would improve things greater.

[Leon]

I would also like to see a registration that is based on kilometers traveled, so if you only do small millage (two of my three cars are well under 10,000km a year) you pay accordingly.

Probably just too easy to defraud. Look at the # of diesel vehicles with "magic odometer switches".

[Quint]

Still sucks that i have to pay full reg for my dub x which i did 380km in last year. makes driving round without a rego really tempting.

[Leon]

Tell me about it ... my race car (road legal) has covered 10,000km since 2006.

[rollaholic]

finding trust worthy mechanics is very difficult as there are way too many cowboys. If they would introduce some form of qualification and ethics of being a mechanic, then it would improve things greater.

pay peanuts, get monkeys.

[TTEETT]

Most people are happy paying peanuts and like it when mechanics only fix what is urgent, better still they love it when the mechanic tells them their car is fine even when it could use a few things.. the idea of preventative maintenance is not a concept they can grasp. if its not completely $&#$% why fix it? Works for most people.

What grates me is when you pay good money and still get monkeys, this is not a rare thing

[BZG Wagon]

My 2c:
1) Great idea although I think 6-monthly WOF's for cars over 'x-years' may have been a better idea.
2) MTA's stance is bull-sh*t. They own VTNZ and this will dent their pockets (presumably they'll increase the price). We're now closer aligned with overseas.
3) WOF's aren't worth the paper they're written on. I see cars all the time that aren't up to scratch and it's easy to get a WOF from a back yard mechanic that wants your business (I'm sure most of us here are guilty of that at one time or another).

My Terrano is a case in point. When I bought it, it had a brand new WOF from Dave Story Motors despite massive rust holes along the lower sills & bald inner right front tyre. Previous owner was a good friend and I knew he had the car serviced there every six months for the past five years - he didn't even realise the extent of the rust or that the tyre had issues.

[rollaholic]

Most people are happy paying peanuts and like it when mechanics only fix what is urgent, better still they love it when the mechanic tells them their car is fine even when it could use a few things.. the idea of preventative maintenance is not a concept they can grasp. if its not completely $&#$% why fix it? Works for most people.

What grates me is when you pay good money and still get monkeys, this is not a rare thing

what i mainly meant was mechanics are paid relatively poorly, so there is little financial motivation for 'good' people to get into the trade.

the amount retail customers pay to the place their car is being worked on has little correlation with how much the guy actually working on your car gets.

[BZG Wagon]

^^My mate owns a garage and complains of this all the time.

Customers come in, ask for a quote, then complain that he's too expensive compared to the (stereotypical) garage down the road.

He rattles off a speal about being fully qualified, not taking short cuts, being around for years and reputation plus customer safety being important to him.

Generally customers don't care; but one in ten come back with bigger issues or the problem not solved. Then they try to guilt trip him into discounting since they've wasted all this money somewhere else, or the repair costs more due to damage other garages have done.

Being an auto-sparky makes it harder because most customers can't see the job he does.

[Al]

^ Most dimwitted Kiwis are just jews though so that is to be expected.

[Lurkin]

... or they have been ripped off before by a an overpriced, branded 'well to do' appearance garage... paying an extreme amount for utterly crap work.

A great example - missus goes in to get an electrical fault diagnosed . she makes this point explicitly as I do not want any work performed.

They replace all the wiring in one of the doors.

Charge: ~$600, or you cant have the car back.

They fed her full of rubbish about diagnosis..

She pays and picks up the car. "its worth if its all fixed"

It still has the fault.

She takes it back.

They tell her its her fault for not telling them what part to replace?

the matter was sorted when I went in a cracked it at them. by sorted, the funds were refunded and I sorted the matter myself.

This was at a reputable garage in wellington, with an idiot of an employee. But.. once bitten, twice shy....

Once you've had experience where you expect quality, pay for it, and get crap... suddenly there's little point in paying the extra $$.

I agree with Sergei.. there needs to be a superior signalling process to motorists of who to deal with.. and who to avoid.

[iOnic]

^ Why I dont work on cars anymore. I got sick of arguing with people about common sense shit. I hated having to explain why its better to do a service when its due than do a rebuild when it breaks to the "but theres nothing wrong with my car" brigade.

Way more money in heavy equipment. I dont know why any mechanics would put up with the crap you do when dealing with Joe Public when a little upskilling will see four figures after tax each week easy.

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

If they would introduce some form of qualification and ethics of being a mechanic, then it would improve things greater.

Wait..... am I reading that right? cos Im pretty sure I spend 4 years and several thousand dollars getting a piece of paper to say that I have a qualification to be a mechanic (Automotive Technician is actually what it says from memory)

Oh and an example of an unethical wof guy would be the ones who do $25 wofs, sucking you in just to fail you harshly and then rob you for the repairs. The main reason why I refuse to drop my wof price, Im thorough, but fair.

[wde_bdy]

The mechanic qualification has been massively devalued by too many dodgy pricks, will take a lot of work to redeem it. They need to seriously crack down on the shit that some WoF inspectors pass and some of the mechanic work that people get shafted on. Personally I find it VERY hard to find a decent mechanic, not paying retail prices to retards so generally go backyard guys I know and who have a good rep.

Callum

[Lurkin]

If a mechanic waved their several thousand dollar qualification piece of paper at me - I wouldn't know whether its a worthy one to have, or one ordered off the internet.

mores the point - is there a standard qualification that is worth asking about? or are there all sorts, with no standardisation?

[rollaholic]

anyone qualified in the last 5-10 years will have an NZQA qualification. dont remember exactly when NZQA came in. i wouldnt know about earlier than that.

in my experience the tutors had a vested interest in making sure you passed your units, so you had to work pretty hard to fail.

there is no requirement to be qualified to work at a garage though is there!