Government working to fix fee/rebate miscalculations, half remain unresolved

The Ministry of Transport and Waka Kotahi say they are actively fixing problems with used imports having their Clean Car Discount fee or rebate miscalculated, yet half of these remain unresolved.

Waka Kotahi tells NZ Autocar there are 119 cases of imports requiring a manual review of their fee/rebate.

Of these, just 57 have been resolved.

They say people should expect to see early teething issues for such a new scheme.

“We’ve experienced some isolated bedding in issues with the transition to the rebates and fees based on CO2 emissions for used imports, as can be expected with any new process,” they say.

“Overall, the system is running well.”

Transport Minister Michael Wood echoed Waka Kotahi’s sentiments. He tells NZ Autocar there has been an overall “positive reaction to the programme.”

Wood acknowledged mistakes have been made with a handful of imports. However, he insisted these are small in number and are quickly being fixed.

“I have sought assurances from Waka Kotahi that these are isolated cases and there is a plan to remedy the problem,” he says.

However, it’s not quick enough for the National party.

National’s Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown believes the Transport Agency is not moving fast enough, leaving affected Kiwis worse off than before.

“The Minister says he is ‘very satisfied’ and that these are just ‘bedding in issues’,” Brown says.

“But that will be little comfort to the Kiwis who bought a car in good faith thinking they would get a rebate and were then slapped with a tax of thousands of dollars.

“Labour is so incompetent that they can’t even organise a tax properly.”

Brown is confident more mistakes have been made that are yet to be identified by the Government.

“There are likely others who have been incorrectly charged who are yet to come forward.”

Waka Kotahi says 5,657 light vehicles have been registered between April 1 and April 11.

The 119 vehicles needing a manual CO2 make up only two per cent of that total.

“The majority of these are used vehicles imported from Japan which have multiple levels of sub models that require manual checks,” the Agency says.

“We are working closely with the Motor Vehicle Industry to resolve any issues that arise and this process has been working well.”

Last week, the Motor Trade Association (MTA) revealed some cars should have been receiving rebates but were attracting the maximum fee.

Waka Kotahi denied they have made mistakes of such significance, again referring to the errors as minor, “isolated issues.”