Clendon David: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Clendon David: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora koutou. It is interesting that New Zealanders seem to have an extraordinarily close and intense relationship with their motor cars. We have already heard evidence of that. I am tempted myself to start telling stories of cars owned and of those I would have liked to own or wish I had not owned at different times. 
Clare Curran 
: Did you have one with a name? 
DAVID CLENDON 
: Oh yes! It is true that we do have a particularly emotional attachment to those things albeit they are only steel rubber and glass. Nevertheless we still engage with them at a level different from the level at which we engage with other commodities and home appliances which is essentially what they can be reduced to. For that reason alone it is important that we have adequate consumer protection in relation to the buying and selling of motor cars and this Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill takes us some steps closer towards that. Cars are named typically as being the second most expensive item that people will purchase after a home. In the age of $10000 television sets perhaps that is not quite as true as it once was nevertheless they are a significant investment. For that reason we need to endeavour to make sure that people are reasonably well protected when they go out to purchase those quite expensive items. 
The car business has historically attracted its share of rogues and perhaps even more than its share of rogues. It just seems to be one of those industries—again perhaps because of the emotional connection that people feel with cars. People get involved in the buying and selling of cars for all sorts of reasons not all of them beneficial. I think the amendment that proposes—that insists in fact—that new management coming into a company must be named in order that people have a clear sense of whom they are actually dealing with is good. It is very difficult to mount an argument that cars are actually an asset; in fact they are a serious liability for most people. Business people are increasingly recognising that through choosing to lease rather than purchase their vehicles. Nevertheless for most people a car is still a major asset. 
I think it is valuable and important that an amendment in this bill proposes some attention to the Internet purchases of vehicles. If it is possible to enter into a contract to purchase a car online then there should be sufficient provision for accurate and complete identification and so on. I did a quick check a couple of weeks ago when it seemed that this bill might be debated in the House and I discovered that on TradeMe something like 32000 vehicles were for sale of which 25000 were identified as being in private sales. About 7000 vehicles then on a given day are available for sale from dealers. Clearly the Internet is a significant medium these days for the purchase of vehicles so it is important that this legislation on motor vehicle purchasing keeps up with the reality that more and more people are going to a screen and a mouse in order to purchase vehicles which is a mixed blessing in itself. 
I have said that many of us have an emotional connection with cars and I am certainly one of those. My first car was also of 1948 vintage. I recently owned a car for 9 years but that ownership ended when a runaway truck destroyed it. I have gone back and bought a 1985 vehicle which was made in New Zealand I am pleased to say. I suspect that it will give many years of service. I look forward to the day when the emotional connection with cars will be reduced because we will have options in the form of a fast efficient reliable modern public transport system. I think our attachment to cars is very much because historically they have given us a mobility that we have not been able to achieve by other means given the absence of investment over 50 or more years in modern efficient public transport. At that point I will end my remarks. Kia ora koutou. 
Debate interrupted. 
Sitting suspended from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.