Adams Paul: Motor Vehicle Sales Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Adams Paul: Motor Vehicle Sales Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
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PAUL ADAMS (United Future) 
: 
 The speedometer issue comes up regularly in our conversations on this bill but can I assure the Committee that “clocking” is a used-car problem not an imported-car problem. Throughout history people have realised that the lower the mileage is the higher the price of the vehicle. The fact that a car has been registered “new” in New Zealand does not necessarily mean that that car has an accurate speedometer. I remember in the early days trading Falcons and finding holes behind the ashtray because people would turn off the electronic speedo when they were going on a trip. So let us get the facts right: the altering of mileage is a used-car problem not necessarily an imported-car problem. 
This enforcement clause has been of great concern to United Future and I have appreciated the efforts of Judith Tizard and the officials as we have worked to close that major loophole in the used-car industry. However because that issue crosses a couple of bills we have not been able to do that in the time allowed so I look forward in this 2-year period to working to close that gap. We talk about levies being a cost to dealers but unlicensed trading is also a huge cost to dealers. United Future has been concerned—just as the industry has been concerned—about the huge hole between when a car is cleared by the Customs Service as it comes across the wharf to when it enters the Land Transport Safety Authority registration system. Under existing regulations there is no requirement that one has to be a licensed motor vehicle dealer to import cars from overseas. The only criterion is that those cars must be sold to a licensed motor vehicle dealer. They cannot be sold direct to the public unless the seller is licensed. Of course that regulation is blatantly ignored. The people who import cars into the country have their money invested in those cars; they cannot sell them to a dealer for one reason or another and they blatantly sell them through car fairs auctions or whatever. United Future would like to see the regulations amended so that only licensed motor vehicle dealers can import cars into the country and hold them until they comply with an MR2A—in other words until they are identified from the Customs Service to the Land Transport Safety Authority. 
We would not be opposed to people bringing in cars for their own private use—that is obvious in the market we are in—but we would insist that if a vehicle were imported by a private person that person would have to register the vehicle in the name of the person who imported it at the time that the vehicle went through the compliance process. If that regulation were brought in it would close a huge loophole that is costing the Government millions of dollars in money not collected through GST from those unlicensed traders. It would create a nice link between the Customs Service and the Land Transport Safety Authority and it would tidy up a lot of the concerns that people have been dealing with. 
My second point deals with the sale price of cars and the cost that those levies will impose. Surprisingly enough in a free-trade environment such as we have car dealers do not set the price they sell their used cars at. The public sets the price. If we try to get too much for a car it will not sell. In a competitive industry such as we are in we learn very quickly what price the public will pay for a certain make and model. Our overheads or costs have absolutely nothing to do with the sale price of the motor vehicle. As regulations come in which the industry does welcome a segment of traders will stand out above the others. I welcome that because the public are not silly. They will soon realise where they can buy a car in safety or where they can buy a car that might be cheaper but has a huge risk attached to it. That is the same for anything we buy and sell. 
I look forward to this bill being passed. As I have said United Future is supportive of it.