Privacy and Vehicle Ownership

The Motor Vehicle Register (MVR) has always been a public register. As such Land Transport New Zealand is obliged, under section 19 of the Transport (Vehicle and Driver Registration and Licensing) Act 1986, to provide access to the name and address of the current and previous owner(s) of a vehicle.

In all cases the vehicle must be identified by providing a registration plate number or VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), the prescribed fee paid and identification produced. Currently, there is no restriction ion the Act about who can access this information, nor what can be done with the information once obtained.

The legislation which provides for the release of information from the MVR is currently under review. The Government has agreed to improve the privacy of the MVR by clarifying the purposes for which information is collected, and tightening up public access to it in accordance with the Privacy Act 1993. This change may take some time, but it is being progressed.

If any person considers that the supply of their name and address may be likely to jeopardise their or their families personal safety (i.e. threat to life or property), they must put their request in writing to apply for confidential status. Applications must include their full name, address, phone number and the plate numbers of the vehicles involved. Each application is assessed on its own merit.

The applicant must also supply either:

• a protection order
• written confirmation from a Police Officer to the effect that the officer believes that the personal safety of the applicant and the applicants family could be jeopardised by the supply of the applicant’s name and address
• evidence of a threat to their safety

Please refer to the Land Transport Privacy Page for further information.

Please note that CarJam do not give out the full street address of ownership data. We provide only the suburb and name which in the interests of balancing privacy with the right for a purchaser to know they are buying from the real owner should be sufficient. This policy is in line with that of similar service providers.

Published in « Frequently Asked Questions

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