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The Transport Agency says over 100 vehicles have flawed emissions data under the Clean Car Discount Scheme, which has led to rebates and fees being miscalculated.
The miscalculation of the CO2 emissions on some cars means owners are being slapped with fees when they should have received a rebate or vice versa.
A spokesperson for Waka Kotahi says there have been problems with 96 of 4,300 vehicle registrations.
“Fifty-six of these cases have been resolved by Waka Kotahi’s dedicated team assigned to do this work.
“The majority of these are used vehicles imported from Japan which have multiple levels of sub models that require manual checks.”
But dealers and importers say the issues are appearing before vehicle registration even happens, as they try to navigate the NZTA data and ensure it’s correct. It’s expected that more issues will come up with European used cars too.
“Overall the system is running well,” said Waka Kotahi on Friday. “We’ve experienced some bedding in issues … as expected with any new process.
“Waka Kotahi has been aware of the potential for some issues with historical CO2 data for some vehicles.”
“Vehicle Efficiency and Emission Data Rule was developed and shared with industry, setting out a hierarchy of testing cycles to calculate the CO2, along with a process for industry to request a review of the CO2 if they think it’s incorrect.”
Vehicle Importers Association senior advisor, Kit Wilkerson, provided technical help to NZTA and says “the thing I am worried about is the potential that there’s a lot of people that are being charged incorrectly out there, and the way the system is currently set up, NZTA is authorised to use the best data that they have at the time.
“So once the vehicle is registered, there’s no going back.
“My biggest concern is the ones that we’re not finding. I’m afraid people may just be saying, ‘Oh, damn, this is what I’m stuck with’, and paying it.”
Keyword: Clean Car Scheme woes: over 100 miscalculations in flawed emissions data