Clendon David: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Clendon David: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
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DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora koutou Mr Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to take a call on the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. It has been interesting to hear both during the earlier reading and the during the Committee stage earlier today the extent of the peculiar love-hate relationship we have with motor vehicles in this country. It is probably not unique to us but it is certainly a characteristic and it is another reason why this market needs to have some regulation on it and some attention paid to it. 
The lower end of the market has not been characterised by a high level of integrity I have to say. Clearly new car sellers franchise holders and for the most part secondhand-car dealers operate with some degree of integrity but there is a minority whose reputation probably equates to our reputation as politicians and it is not a particularly high level of trust that is shown by the public in that market. So it is important that we are seen to apply consumer protection provisions in this bill. 
Given the economic and apparently the cultural importance of motor vehicles in New Zealand I think it is probably unfortunate and a bit odd that this bill has languished for nearly 18 months since its first reading. I was interested in the comments made by the previous speaker Lianne Dalziel about the necessity of perhaps looking at a more regular review a more timely review of what is quite a significant market. 
The numbers are interesting. There are over 4 million vehicles currently registered in New Zealand. Looking at the population we see that that equals roughly one car each which puts us on the top tier certainly in terms of per capita ownership of vehicles. That number is also fairly stable. The number of new vehicles coming on the market more or less balances those that get trashed each year and it is interesting that we do seem to maintain this very very high level of vehicle ownership despite the fact that clearly vehicles are a liability. 
Vehicles are often perceived as being an asset but they are a liability to own and operate. New vehicle sales hit a peak in 2007—something like 100000 vehicles were newly registered in that year—and that figure dropped substantially during the recession down to a low last year of fewer than 70000-odd vehicles. But that figure is clearly on the way up. There is something like a 15 percent increase in new vehicle sales this year and something like a 43 percent increase in the sale of imported second-hand vehicles and again it reflects the need for some constant attention to regulate and ensure that consumers are getting a good deal in this market. 
The most popular vehicle segment is mini and small vehicles. But there have been major drops in sales as more people think very hard about the purchasing of large investments like cars and of course the collapse of finance companies also discourages people from getting involved in anything that commits them to debt. It is interesting that the hardest-hit segment of the market is large cars People are turning away from large sedans and moving more towards the sport utility vehicles in spite the fact that the particular qualities or characteristics of those vehicles really only meet the needs of a relatively small number of people. 
All this information leads us to reflect and to acknowledge that the purchase of a motor vehicle is often a very emotive rather than a wholly rational decision. There may be a degree of rationality about it but people often buy vehicles on quite an irrational basis. In a market like that it is important that we have appropriate regulation and without wishing to sound patronising that we apply some protection for consumers in an area where they are very easily ripped off and cheated. 
The age of the New Zealand vehicle fleet is hovering at about 12 years to 13 years particularly the light vehicle fleet which is the largest component of the overall fleet. It is about 90 percent of the total. About half of that fleet is made up of used imports—vehicles that have come in as second-hand vehicles. Something like 78 percent of total vehicle kilometres travelled in New Zealand are in the light passenger vehicle category which indicates that most of the kilometres travelled in New Zealand are travelled in cars and very light commercials. Again all those figures tell us that the buying and selling of vehicles is a very busy very complex market and any steps to better inform and protect consumers in that market place is to be welcomed. There are provisions in this bill that seek to do that. The numbers also point to the need for developing much more coherent and much more appropriate strategies for incentivising customers to make purchases that will meet their needs and reduce the adverse environmental impact of motor vehicle use. 
Over time the Greens have put up a number of propositions aimed at increasing in particular fuel efficiency standards across the whole vehicle fleet. We have proposed a system of tradable credits that would give importers absolute discretion in terms of what vehicles they choose to import. But clearly that would incentivise a mix that favours the most fuel-efficient vehicles coming into this country which would not only meet the needs of consumers to the extent that it would reduce the overall running cost to vehicles but also would reduce the significant negative environmental impact of our vehicle use. 
The Greens have proposed a “feebate” system—that is a differential in registration fees—to advantage and incentivise the purchase and use of smaller more fuel-efficient vehicles rather than the larger less fuel-efficient vehicles. This would give consumers maximum information and maximum choice so that they can reduce their overall cost of ownership of vehicles over time. It is true that this amendment to the Act will provide more consumer protection. The Internet has also been pointed out as a factor. It is not a new phenomenon but certainly the number of vehicles that are bought and sold through Internet sales and auctions now makes up a significant part of the total. When I checked a few days ago there were something like 32000 motor vehicles advertised for sale on the web mostly on TradeMe and some 25000 of those were private sales. Again that points towards the need for ensuring that private and indeed commercial sellers are obliged to give consumers information that is as appropriate accurate and honest as possible. 
The Greens will be supporting this bill. It enhances the degree of consumer protection. We do regret that much more fundamental coherent and broad-based attention is not being paid to how we buy sell and incentivise the importing and the purchasing patterns of motor vehicles in New Zealand. We will continue to advocate for an approach that leads us to a more sustainable low-carbon economy which is the way we need to go. Thank you.