Post
by EricW » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:54 pm
Since I can go back that far, the story was that we had compulsory third
party insurance, which as you say, was paid with the registration fee. This
covered injury to persons only, not damage to property. Essentially, you
nominated an insurance company when you registered the car, they received
the premium, which was a set amount, and, if you injured someone with your
car and were sued, that company indemnified you. If you were injured, you
had to sue the other party, and if you were to blame, you were pretty much
on your own.
It was replaced by the Accident Compensation Levy, in the early 70s, in
which a standard fee applies across the whole of the New Zealand fleet, as
part of our "no fault" accident compensation scheme, and does not take
account of the vehicle type, age of driver or any other similar
considerations.Unlike the old scheme which only benefitted a third party,
this scheme covers all injuries, including any damage you do to yourself.
It is a Government run scheme, and like all government schemes, pays out
totally inadequate benefits, prevents you suing for more and provides a cash
cow for the Government, because they add ACC levies to just about anything
you can name, particularly motoring. (Only our government could stick
another 5 cents ACC levy on a litre of petrol at a time when the price of
fuel is crippling the economy).
This does nothing to solve the problem of uninsured drivers, as it does not
relate to property insurance in any way. Property insurance is not
compulsory, so, like England, the people who have the most accidents don't
have it, because for them it is "too expensive". However, insurance
companies are much more likely to sue uninsured drivers than they used to
be.
Generally speaking, what you get away with from your insurance company
depends on your record, but it would be difficult for a new, young, client
to insure a highly modified car, and very expensive, if they could find
anyone to take them on. Having a forty year claim free record with the same
company, I could probably insure what I like.
Having said that, some, or probably most, mods will attract higher premiums,
even if you have a good record. The club does not have a tame insurer, but
most companies charge relatively similar premiums for the same risk.
All cars in New Zealand have to be certified as complying with
Roadworthiness Regulations, this is normally done as they are imported, (we
no longer assemble cars in this country) and before they go on sale.
Any subsequent mods to the vehicle which affect its safety or structure have
to be certified, this is done at the same compliance centres and costs about
$350-$400 for most inspections. You can have several mods certified at the
same time, for the same fee.
Cars are, in general, inspected every 6 months for a Warrant of Fitness, not
quite as stringent as a certification, but getting tougher almost by the day
it seems. This costs around $35 to $40.
I guess that there is a psychological difference between NZ new cars (not
just MX 5s) and imports, but in fact, all NZ MX5s were assembled in Japan
anyway, so there is not a lot of difference. The imports are generally
slightly better equipped, and by far the majority of MX5s are imports. Of
course, prior to the import thing kicking off, the MX5 was by no means a
cheap car, it has always been $40Kish, even when that was real money, in the
early 90s. NZ new ones still are, but good imports range from about $27K for
a very late model NB, down to around $7000 for a reasonable 89 NA.
I do not believe that premiums are affected by the cars origin, particularly
for something like an MX5 for which parts are readily available. It may do
for something unusual. The insured value also does not affect the premium as
much as you might think either, as it is only a small factor in the premium,
there are all sorts of levies, including Fire Service, Earthquake and of
course ACC. Your locality does greatly affect premiums, the South Island is
cheaper than the North Island and certain areas of high crime/risk will
boost premiums dramatically. I moved from South Auckland to an area on the
North Shore of Auckland about 6 years ago, and my premiums for all insurance
went down by over 30%.
I am in my mid 50s and paid about $420.00 this year to comprehensively
insure my 94 1800 NA for an agreed $9000. That was with the maximum 60% no
claim rebate. So I guess that, with a bad claims history, you might be up
around $1000.Age will be important, I believe a number of our younger
members pay quite significant premiums, as I would if any under 25 year olds
were driving the car.
I hope that helps
Eric
