More than 5000 motorists are being urged to get their Warrant of Fitnesses rechecked following the suspension of two vehicle inspection businesses.
It comes as 19 vehicle certifiers are being investigated as part of a review into the New Zealand Transport Agency's (NZTA) failure to enforce safety standards.
AA motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon joined TVNZ's Breakfast this morning to give some advice to concerned motorists.
Mr Noon said of the issue, "The people who really are fault are the certifiers themselves".
"They haven't done their job properly in terms of doing the inspection of people's vehicles, but the agency [NZTA] is in the gun because it's their job as the regulator to make sure that those certifiers do their job properly, and the people called out are the people who think that they've had their car properly checked for their warrant or whatever and it may not have been."
He said another concern is that WOFs are "only valid the day that you get it".
"It's an inspection on that day to say your vehicle is good for the road that day, and we have a longer period now, so we have 12 months for a normal car, and a new car, it's three years, so one thing we’d say is, 'Check your tyres in that period', because your tyres may have worn out, you're gonna need them in the wet or just stop fast.
"If they haven't got the treat, you're not going to do that, so take them into a tyre shop or, if you don't know how to do it, go get your tyres checked as well."
However, Mr Noon said it's "too early" for heads to roll at NZTA, saying, "What we think is, first off, those people who think that they have a valid warrant can actually get that confirmation that they have a valid warrant. It looks like a big response from the NZTA at the moment, and the people are managing it, and there’s also a review to make sure we get this right in the future as well, so I think that's the focus”.
He also confirmed that the checks will come at no extra cost to motorists with recalled warrants.
"If you got a recall, go and do it. If you're an AA member, we do do a safety check as well. Generally, if you're a bit concerned between your warrants or whatever and want to get it checked, go into an AA service centre and we can give you a free safety check."
Mr Noon said he believes the checks are "going to take a while".
"Originally, [NZTA] were talking about 800 [vehicle safety verifiers], and then they were talking about 150 that they had concerns with – that was sort of seven weeks ago. It's 19 that they're looking at and there's quite a disruption from just two of those, so I think it's going to take a while".
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