Changes to road user admin fees on the way

The cost to motorists of licensing and registering their vehicles is set to come down slightly this year, Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced.

Administration fees applied to licensing or registering vehicles and road user charges have not changed since the 1990s.  A review conducted by the NZ Transport Agency found the fees no longer reflected the cost of administering the service and recommended changes to the way administration fees were structured and charged.

Mr Brownlee said while administration costs were only a small portion of the overall charge it was important to maintain a strong focus on keeping costs low and accurate to the activity they’re intended to recover.

“The new approach to fee setting is fairer and more transparent, and has the added benefit of resulting in slightly cheaper fees for the majority of road users.”

The changes include more targeting of fees to specific services and aligning the fee to the actual cost of providing the service. 

Different fees will also apply to different payment methods, with paying online being the cheapest option.  For example, registering a car online will incur an administration charge of $3.57 compared to $6.26 if paid over the counter (excluding GST). 

The changes will occur in two stages. Changes to the fees applying to road user charges will be introduced when the Road User Charges Act 2012 comes into force on 1 August.

Changes to fees applying to motor vehicle registration and licensing activity will apply from 1 October this year.

Further detail on the changes is available on the Ministry of Transport’s website: www.transport.govt.nz