Hipkins Chris: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Hipkins Chris: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
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CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I will begin by offering my congratulations to the Minister in the chair John Boscawen. I understand that this is a very significant day for him because it is the first day that he is sitting in the chair as a Minister presiding over a bill. I also believe although I have not checked it out that it is the first day he has spoken in the House when he has not mentioned the emissions trading scheme. I am sure that is still to come. I looked through the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill and I could not work out where he might be able to fit it in. We might get through a whole bill where we hear from Mr Boscawen but we do not hear about the emissions trading scheme. I appreciate that this is a very significant day for him. 
I also acknowledge the previous Minister of Consumer Affairs Heather Roy. I am sure that she presided over this legislation very conscientiously and very thoroughly during the time that she was a Minister as she was well known for doing. 
I want to talk primarily about the consumer information notices that are required to be displayed in vehicles. I want to ask some questions either of the Minister or of one of the other members of the Commerce Committee. I have read through the bill I have gone back to the principal Act and I have read some of the information provided by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs—I know I am a bit of a geek. It is not particularly easy to follow the impact that this change will make. As I read it it is about reducing the compliance cost for people who are privately trading in motor vehicles. They will not have to display a consumer information notice as they would if they were registered car dealers. 
As I read the principal Act one of the primary pieces of information supplied in that consumer information notice is a statement that the vehicle is being sold without any finance conditions attached to it. I want to know either from the Minister or from someone else who is on the select committee what protections if any somebody who trades a vehicle privately has. It could well be that even if a consumer information notice had to be displayed as was required previously there was no protection in terms of the financing provisions for someone involved in a private vehicle transaction. Maybe someone could purchase a vehicle from somebody else in a private transaction and find that money was still owed on that vehicle by the seller and therefore the vehicle could be taken off the buyer. I understand from my reading the Act that if a vehicle is purchased from a registered motor vehicle dealer the dealer has to provide a statement saying there are no financing conditions and therefore any liability for any previous financing conditions would actually rest with the vehicle dealer rather than with the person who purchases the vehicle. But I want to receive clarification of where people lie in terms of a private transaction in motor vehicle dealing. 
I was quite surprised when I looked up the information required on a consumer information notice to find that the notice did not necessarily need to supply all of the information that I thought it would. I had always thought of a consumer information notice being a little thing that hangs in the window of the car when I go to a car dealer to buy a car and that therefore everything that was on that notice was required by the law. I understand now having read the information that that is not the case. Not all of the information supplied on the notice has to be supplied; it is supplied simply for ease of reference by motor vehicle dealers. Some clarification of that from the Minister would be quite useful. 
The reason I am particularly interested in the private transactions is that a significant amount of car trading happens over forums like TradeMe or through private vehicle sales and I think that will increasingly become the case. We are seeing it even in housing sales. People are increasingly trading their houses over the Internet through TradeMe without any involvement of real estate agents. Increasingly we will see more cars being traded without the involvement of car dealers. We need to make sure that we get this law really clear and that people are clear on their rights and obligations. That is quite important. 
While I was listening to Clare Curran speaking before me I reflected on the number of cars that I have owned. I have owned five cars. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: You’re not old enough! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: I have owned five cars. My first car was a Mitsubishi Lancer which was older than I am. It was a 1977 Mitsubishi Lancer; I was born in 1978. I purchased that one privately. The next car that I owned was a Mitsubishi Starion. That was my favourite car. 
Grant Robertson 
: Are you sponsored by them? 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Not quite; just hang on a minute. That was also purchased through a private sale. The next car that I owned was a Nissan Terrano. I still own it; that car is good fun. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I’ve got to hear the end of this! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: That is right; it is good—it is worth it. I purchased that car from a licensed motor vehicle dealer. The Nissan Terrano is the only car that I have ever purchased from a licensed motor vehicle dealer and I still own it. I then bought a big Ford Transit van for the last election campaign. I bought it from a private trader and that was a very unsuccessful transaction. The van had my face painted all over the side of it; the only problem was that it did not go. We had to tow it everywhere so it was not a particularly useful addition to my election campaign. That van went by the wayside not long after the election campaign. 
Jo Goodhew 
: A non-starter. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: It was a non-starter but I still won. I then traded that van down for a little Nissan S-Cargo which is one of those little bubble cars. It is down in the basement quite often; people will see it down there. The bigger van would not have fitted in the basement so it was a good trade because it means that I can drive it to work. That was also purchased through a private transaction. 
I am probably not atypical of somebody my age: I have owned five cars in the 15 years that I have been driving. I got my driver’s licence when I was 15—16 years actually; I just did the maths which has never been a strong point for me. Of the five cars that I have owned four have been purchased through private arrangements. So to some extent the removal of the consumer information notice would have an impact on me. I am willing to throw the comment out there—I have no absolutely no evidence for it but that is all right; I have not had much evidence for anything else that I have said today—that younger people are probably more likely to purchase motor vehicles in private transactions rather than through motor vehicle dealers. As we go through the debate on this bill I think we will see that the lower-value vehicles tend to be exchanged through private sales—through classified advertising like TradeMe or whatever means. People who go to a car yard will typically spend five grand or more. Those who buy a vehicle for 500 bucks will do so through a private sale and younger people are more likely to be in that category. This legislation is very important for them as they will maybe be purchasing their first cars. It is important that they are aware of all of their rights and obligations through that process. 
I hope the Minister of Consumer Affairs will be able to take a call and clear up what is probably quite a simple matter around these consumer information notices in terms of what they need to contain and where people are left in respect of previous financing arrangements when there is a private sale of a motor vehicle. Thank you very much.