MTA calls for extra help with car-repair costs
The Motor Trade Association (MTA) is calling for the government to help more people facing financial hardship to pay for vehicle inspection and repair costs.
It estimates a dedicated programme of assistance for work on vehicles will cost about $85 million and save 50 lives a year.
The appeal comes after it was revealed Ministry of Social Development (MSD) payments to help with car repairs for people on benefits and low incomes have more than tripled in the past six years.
Official figures, obtained by National, show the ministry spent $33.6 million through almost 50,000 grants, loans and advances in the year ended March 2021. In 2016, the MSD forked out $11m for 22,500 payments.
Greig Epps, MTA’s advocacy and strategy manager, says at any given time there are about 400,000 vehicles on New Zealand roads without a warrant of fitness (WOF).
“These are vehicles that are actively registered but have no record of a recent WOF,” he explains. “This is a significant vehicle-safety risk to the lives of the people driving these vehicles, their passengers, and other road users.
“We believe financial hardship is a significant factor in the decision to present a vehicle for WOF testing and that this needs to be addressed with a specific programme of support through the Ministry of Social Development for vehicle repairs.”
New Zealanders with incomes of $20,000 or less are less likely to regularly service their cars, according to research completed by the MTA in 2020. The industry organisation concluded this was due to financial constraints rather than a lack of willingness.
Epps, pictured below, says providing support for low-income families will “quickly pay for itself, maintain vehicle safety and save lives”.
A Ministry of Transport (MoT) briefing from 2020 states the average social cost per road fatality in 2019 was $4.56m.
Statistics from the MoT also show the percentage of fatal crashes where the vehicle has been a contributing factor has increased from five per cent in 2013 to 11 per cent in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
