Appeal for industry to keep challenging officials about problems with ‘flawed’ system for calculating clean car costs.

dealer hits out at feebate

A used-car dealer is calling for the automotive industry to step up its demands for Waka Kotahi to urgently fix problems with the Rightcar database after having sales collapse because of the website showing the wrong emissions figures for vehicles.

Elliot Feringa, director of Select Autos Tauranga, says he ended up having to refund a customer who had bought a 2013 Subaru XV after they were facing a $2,371.88 penalty under the feebate scheme. This was despite Feringa expecting the car to fall into the zero band for clean cars and attract neither a fee nor a rebate.

The deal came unstuck after he says it took three weeks to get the vehicle’s emissions figures on Rightcar corrected by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

The incident is one of a number of similar problems reported by traders since the full clean car discount scheme kicked in from April 1.

Feringa, pictured, wants the automotive industry and other dealers to challenge the agency more about the “flawed” system after encountering further anomalies with the Rightcar figures.

“I feel that as an industry we have rolled over and taken this, especially as the problems don’t appear to be fixed after more than a couple of months,” he adds.

“It’s taking weeks to resolve inaccurate information about fees or rebates. That kind of delay needs to be fixed quickly and it’s time to say enough is enough.

“I think as an industry we haven’t pushed back and voiced our dissatisfaction loudly enough about how poorly executed this scheme is.

“We have the right to base buying decisions on the information available to us. When that information is subject to change and without any recourse, it adds unnecessary uncertainty and potentially unexpected costs.

“Through no fault of our own we’re having to unwind deals and that’s not acceptable and we should be voicing our concerns about it.”

Feringa says he was shocked when the Subaru XV he had sold faced such a substantial penalty at registration time. He checked the vehicle’s details with a compliance workshop, which told him the car’s emissions would put it under the threshold for any fees.

He predicts other dealers will also have refunded customers after encountering similar problems, which will be putting pressure on businesses.

“The clean car database isn’t functioning as it should. We ended up refunding our customer because we only got the details sorted three weeks after querying the figures with NZTA,” adds Feringa.

“The total registration and costs for the car were $2,600-plus and about $2,300 was the clean car fee. There are not too many dealers who could absorb an unexpected $2,300 margin and I imagine deals are being made and then being unwound. I don’t expect I’m the only one who has done that.”

He says he received another surprise when he went to register a 2018 Lexus IS 300 sedan and found it attracted a fee, despite it being what he describes as the type of economical vehicle the government should be encouraging into the fleet.

Select Autos Tauranga predominantly purchases vehicles from Australia but also imports vehicles from Japan.

“There have been no issues with the database for Japanese vehicles but as soon as you step into other markets it’s like every second vehicle is problematic,” notes Feringa.

He has seen no great improvement in the Rightcar database since the feebate was introduced and is now checking details of all cars at his business to make sure the fees or rebates are correct before trying to seal a deal with consumers.

Another frustration for Feringa is Waka Kotahi not having a direct phone number for people to report problems with the emissions and feebate figures, and the agency “taking around five or six days to respond to email enquiries”.

“I believe that if the clean car scheme was a product it would not be considered fit for purpose, but we have very little recourse despite the problems it is causing dealers like myself,” he opines.

“I accept problems happen but how we deal with them is what matters. There is no acknowledgement from NZTA that they have got more than teething problems with the system, even though we’re still running into issues.

“It would be good if NZTA acknowledged there’s a problem and said if there’s something we as dealers believe is wrong then here is a dedicated number where someone can sort it out straight away, rather than it taking weeks to fix.”

Keyword: Dealer hits out at feebate

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