On 1 August 2008, Land Transport New Zealand and Transit New Zealand became the NZ Transport Agency. The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) brings together the functions of Land Transport NZ and Transit to provide an integrated approach to transport planning, funding and delivery.

You will continue to see our old logo and name around for a while, but it will be business as usual.

This means that your VIRM, Infosheets, PRS manual and WoF labels, and the authority of reviewers remain valid and in force under the new legislation.

Email addresses are firstname.lastname@nzta.govt.nz but emails sent to old Land Transport NZ addresses will be forwarded automatically for a few months. Dont forget to change your various contacts details in your address book.

For more information about the New Zealand Transport Agency you can visit www.nzta.govt.nz.

Inspecting green-stickered vehicles

As you may have seen from a recent notice on WoF-online, the law was changed with the effect that WoF organisations who also repair vehicles can now no longer issue WoFs to vehicles which have been green-stickered. This includes any green-sticker, not just the ones issued for noisy exhausts or illegal street-racing. If you get presented with a vehicle that has been green-stickered, you will need to tell the owner that their vehicle must be inspected by either VTNZ, NZAA, VINZ or an independent testing station that does not repair vehicles as part of their business.

Pre-signing checksheets

As a result of recent reviews and investigations where checksheets were found pre-signed for fraudulent purposes, we have clarified in the VIRM the requirements for completing checksheets, including when they should be signed.

The signature means that the inspector has completed the inspection and has determined that the vehicle has either passed or failed. Therefore, dont sign the checksheet until after you have completed your inspection, and our reviewers will be much happier for it.

Wear your seatbelts

Some inspectors have been fined by the Police for not wearing a seatbelt while they are out road-testing vehicles for WoF. While you are not required to wear a seatbelt if you are servicing the vehicle, (arguably this could include WoF inspections), you also need to prove that you have to get in and out of the vehicle frequently during the road test.

This is not usually needed during the road test, so avoid unnecessary contributions to the government fund and wear a seatbelt (if fitted) when you are road testing a vehicle for WoF.

Exhaust flame thrower kits

You may have seen these on the news recently. Despite some sellers stating that these can pass WoF, they definitely cannot. They are not safe to use on the road under normal conditions of use, and interfere with the exhaust systems operation and effectiveness.

The installation of such a kit cannot be LVV certified. To identify a flamer thrower kit, just look for the spark plug in the tailpipe and associated wires and components.

VIRM version 3 amendment 4

You should by now have received the above amendment dated November 2008. Make sure you read at least the summary of changes as it covers a number of important issues, including, amongst others:

• WoF garages can no longer inspect green-stickered vehicles
• Pre-signing checksheets is not allowed
• Lightboards and jack and axle stands no longer permitted
• Raised suspension.

Oops

As can happen when doing many things quickly, some very minor errors sneaked into amendment 4. These have been put into an errata sheet and these errors will be corrected in the next VIRM change.

Lightboards and jack and axle stands are out

In order to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of inspections, lightboards must no longer be used to inspect vehicle lamps, you must now use a suitable beamsetter. However, lightboards may still be used for inspecting lamps on motorcycles and specialist vehicles where the use of a beamsetter is difficult.

For the same reasons, underbody inspections must now be carried out on a hoist or over a pit, though jack and axle stands can still be used for some specialist vehicles that are difficult to put on a hoist or over a pit.

Most of you should not be affected by this change in requirements, but if you dont have a beamsetter or a hoist or pit, then you need to contact your local reviewer as soon as possible to arrange for a suitable time frame to get a beamsetter and/or install a hoist or pit.

Smoky and noisy vehicle pamphlets

If you have run out of the pamphlets that were supplied to you with previous VIRM amendments, you can order more through Wickliffe when you order your WoF labels. These pamphlets are free of charge.

Check your stock of WoF labels

Due to the secure nature of WoF labels and how Christmas and New Year fall this year, it has been decided to close off Wickliffe orders for WoF labels from 19 December 2008 until 5 January 2009.

Please ensure you place your orders early to cover your needs over this period. There will be a charge of $30.00 if you require an order during this period.

Due to the high demand of orders before Christmas your order could take a couple of days longer.

Wickliffe thanks you in anticipation.

WoF online help

XTRA - phone 0800 000 533 (for problems with accessing WoF online)

TRC - phone 0800 804 580 / fax 06 354 6931 (for problems after you've accessed WoF online)

UNISYS - phone 0800 243 687 (for problems with user access codes and passwords)

TRC - phone 0800 108 809 (for phone inquiries from members of the public)

VCU - phone 0800 587 287 (for technical assistance and reporting staff movements)

Feedback...?

We welcome your feedback. Please send any comments to:

Driver and Vehicle Certification Unit
Land Transport New Zealand
PO Box 2840, Wellington
Email: dvcufeedback@nzta.govt.nz