If you are a business ivolved in importing or exporting of vehicles from the United Kingdom (UK) to New Zealand, or simply considering shipping your own private vehicle to New Zealand, we recommend you use an ENTRY CERTIFIER. The process can be lengthy and you will need to collect the correct supporting information for your application. Entry certifiers assess whether or not vehicles meet the applicable standards and can be registered for use on New Zealand roads. If your vehicle doesn't meet the standards on arrival, it may be too late to do anything about it, but if the vehicle will never be used on the road, then you don't need to register it or meet the standards.

ENTRY CERTIFICATION

All vehicles entering New Zealand must be checked, certified, registered and licensed before you can use them on the road. This process is called entry certification.

What’s involved

Only approved testing stations can carry out entry certification inspections.

The process involves an entry certifier:

• verifying that the vehicle met the required safety emissions and frontal impact standards when manufactured
• carrying out a vehicle inspection to verify it is still in good condition
• deciding whether the vehicle needs any repairs and/or specialist certification to meet legal safety requirements
• certifying that the vehicle meets safety and emissions requirements
• verifying who legally owns the vehicle.
• verifying the vehicle's identity and that it has a valid VIN assigned and affixed.
• Where the vehicle meets requirements, the certifier issues:
• a registration application form (form MR2A),which verifies that it has passed these checks and is safe for you to drive, and
• a warrant of fitness or certificate of fitness, depending on the vehicle’s size.

Find an approved testing station

Contact the organisations below to locate an approved testing station:

• Automobile Association (AA), phone +64 9 966 8800, free phone 0800 500 333, fax +64 9 966 8893, email aatech@aa.co.nz.
• Vehicle Inspection New Zealand (VINZ), phone +64 9 573 5070, fax +64 9 573 3989, email info@vinz.co.nz.
• Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ), phone +64 4 495 2500, fax +64 4 495 2530, email technical@vtnz.co.nz.
• Drivesure Vehicle Testing Limited, phone 0800 220 240, email admin@drivesure.net.nz.
• Nelson Vehicle Testing Centre Limited, phone +64 3 539 1223, email office@nvtc.co.nz.

Passenger Cars (MA Class)

A passenger vehicle (other than a class MB or class MC vehicle) that has not more than nine seating positions (including the driver's seating position).

The most important standards for these class MA vehicles are the frontal impact standard and the exhaust emissions standard. To register your vehicle you must be able to prove it was manufactured to meet frontal impact and exhaust emissions standard unless:

• it is over 20 years old
• it is a special interest vehicle
• you’re bringing it with you when emigrating or returning to live in New Zealand.

You can’t add frontal impact systems to a vehicle. If a vehicle wasn’t designed, manufactured and certified as meeting an approved frontal impact standard, you can’t change this.

See the more detailed requirements for frontal impact standards in the Land Transport Rule: Frontal Impact 2001

For 4x4, SUV and forward-control vans (Class MB and MC)

If your Class MB or Class MC vehicle was manufactured after 1 October 2003, it must meet a frontal impact standard. The exception is if you're emigrating to New Zealand and bringing your vehicle with you. Find out more about this exception.

Your vehicle will most likely have an EC whole vehicle approval plate or sticker attached to it, which you may be able to use to show that it complies with almost all of New Zealand's vehicle requirements. You can only use it as evidence if it includes the EC directive '2001/116'.

Proof of ownership

You need to provide evidence that you're the legal owner of the vehicle. This includes:

• the original documents that prove previous registration and provide an ownership trail that goes back to the last registered owner in the country where the vehicle was last registered, and
• certified English translations of all documents not in English (bills of sale, purchase receipts etc).

Evidence of compliance with emission standards

For both used and parallel-imported new vehicles, acceptable proof your vehicle meets New Zealand requirements can be:

• a suitable European Community (EC) whole vehicle approval plate/sticker
• a suitable UN/ECE approval plate/sticker
• a certificate of conformity or statement of compliance that includes an approved emission standard.

Evidence of overall standards compliance

In many cases an EC whole vehicle approval plate/sticker or a suitable UN/ECE Approval plate/sticker affixed to your vehicle is acceptable evidence that your vehicle meets applicable standards in New Zealand. This proves your vehicle met the EC or UN/ECE standards when manufactured.

Before you import a European vehicle

Talk to an Entry Certifier to check whether the EC or UN/ECE whole vehicle approval on your vehicle is acceptable.

No plate or sticker? You'll need to get a statement of compliance as evidence.

f your vehicle meets the applicable New Zealand Standards, you can arrange transport with a shipping agent to get it to New Zealand.

If your vehicle is currently registered in its country of origin, you need to deregister the vehicle with that country’s registration authority and keep all the documents.

CLICK FOR FACTSHEET TO HELP YOU WITH IMPORTING / EXPORTING YOUR VEHICLE

This factsheet should be read in conjunction with Factsheet 44a and Factsheet 44b. New Zealand allows the import of 'used' vehicles, provided the vehicle meets applicable standards, safety and emissions requirements. There must also be acceptable proof of ownership and standards compliance. These things are checked in the process known as entry certification. Entry certifiers are appointed by the NZ Transport Agency to carry out this task.

PRICES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR SHIPPING IN WHILST IN THE UK

Shipping Price

• The £1,500 is all-inclusive of groundwork in the UK. Vehicle is shipped in a container to NZ.

Price Includes

• Shipping from UK to New Zealand (We offer services to both Auckland and Lyttelton);
• Delivery of vehicle to the UK port (however, we offer collection service at extra cost);
• Loading and securing the vehicle on to the shipping vessel;
• UK customs export and clearance;
• UK port handling charges;
• UK freight and tax costs;
• Export documentation (shipping note, bills of lading etc).

Price Excludes

• New Zealand duties or taxes, customs, excise or clearance (however, we can recommended local agents to assist you with this).

Booking Procedures

To book your vehicle, we will require the following:

1. Sender’s name, address, and phone number in the UK (usually the dealer);
2. Receiver’s name, address and phone number in New Zealand;

Once the above is received, we will book a space for your vehicle in the shipping vessel.

Payment

• Deposit to secure the vehicle is £250, then the rest of the payment should be made in full, and at any time before the vehicle is loaded into the ship and leaves the port for the destination country, after we are satisfied that the vehicle meets the standard to be exported, once an inspection is done on your behalf. We cannot inspect vehicles without a deposit since the dealers are spread across the county.

Transit times

• We offer two sailings per week and a transit time of 5 weeks.

Insurance

• Insurance is not mandatory as the ships are insured anyway in case of disasters at sea. If you want separate insurance, this can be arranged at 1.5 % of the CFR (Cost of Goods & Freight) plus 10% - NZD 500.00 Excess