Lives could be lost due to government charges

Thousands of consumers are likely to end up buying illegal or unsafe
vehicles due to a government proposal to charge for basic vehicle
information, according to the motoring website carjam.co.nz.

Carjam spokesman Paul Osborne says:

 “Many cars are sold each day. Some of these vehicles are stolen, have
dodgy warrants or have had their odometers wound back. Right now, at no
charge, consumers can check if a vehicle is safe and legal on our
website.  Consumers will be denied this information if proposed
government charges go ahead.”

Like many other websites, Carjam currently gets basic information for
free from the New Zealand Transport Agency’s computers, and then passes
this information at no charge to consumers. The NZTA is intending to end
this supply of free data, which is widely used in the motor trade to
check basic facts about a vehicle.

NZTA proposes to charge websites like Carjam every time it accesses the
NZTA computer.  Although the charges appear small (16 cents per
transaction), due to the huge number of transactions involved (1.5
million reports per month through Carjam), these charges will earn NZTA
millions of dollars every year.

“At these rates, we would have to charge to the consumer for each report
that we currently provide for free. Also, many consumers still don't
have credit cards; therefore they would have trouble paying for an
online report, regardless of how much it cost."

“The information that the government proposes to charge for belongs to
the New Zealand people, not the government. The New Zealand motorist
already pays for this data through their motor registration fees. Now
the government wants to charge twice.”

“Not only do the registration fees already pay for the information that
is stored about their cars, but commercial users of other vehicle
information already cover the costs of providing free information to
websites like ours.”

Carjam has started an online petition calling for a halt to the proposed
charges. This petition has gathered 7000 signatures in just 2 days.

“In the last twelve months our free reports have identified thousands of
cases of vehicles with dodgy odometers, plus countless cases of vehicles
with no warrant or rego and multiple cases of stolen vehicles being
offered for sale to unsuspecting consumers. That’s a huge number of
consumers who were protected thanks to our free reports.

Next year, thousands of consumers may end up buying illegal or unsafe
cars, thanks to the government’s proposal. It’s not exaggerating to say
Thousands of consumers are likely to end up buying illegal or unsafe
vehicles due to a government proposal to charge for basic vehicle
information, according to the motoring website carjam.co.nz.

Carjam spokesman Paul Osborne says:

 “Many cars are sold each day. Some of these vehicles are stolen, have
dodgy warrants or have had their odometers wound back. Right now, at no
charge, consumers can check if a vehicle is safe and legal on our
website.  Consumers will be denied this information if proposed
government charges go ahead.”

Like many other websites, Carjam currently gets basic information for
free from the New Zealand Transport Agency’s computers, and then passes
this information at no charge to consumers. The NZTA is intending to end
this supply of free data, which is widely used in the motor trade to
check basic facts about a vehicle.

NZTA proposes to charge websites like Carjam every time it accesses the
NZTA computer.  Although the charges appear small (16 cents per
transaction), due to the huge number of transactions involved (1.5
million reports per month through Carjam), these charges will earn NZTA
millions of dollars every year.

“At these rates, we would have to charge to the consumer for each report
that we currently provide for free. Also, many consumers still don't
have credit cards; therefore they would have trouble paying for an
online report, regardless of how much it cost."

“The information that the government proposes to charge for belongs to
the New Zealand people, not the government. The New Zealand motorist
already pays for this data through their motor registration fees. Now
the government wants to charge twice.”

“Not only do the registration fees already pay for the information that
is stored about their cars, but commercial users of other vehicle
information already cover the costs of providing free information to
websites like ours.”

Carjam has started an online petition calling for a halt to the proposed
charges. This petition has gathered 7000 signatures in just 2 days.

“In the last twelve months our free reports have identified thousands of
cases of vehicles with dodgy odometers, plus countless cases of vehicles
with no warrant or rego and multiple cases of stolen vehicles being
offered for sale to unsuspecting consumers. That’s a huge number of
consumers who were protected thanks to our free reports.

Next year, thousands of consumers may end up buying illegal or unsafe
cars, thanks to the government’s proposal. It’s not exaggerating to say
that lives could be lost as a result,”
that lives could be lost as a result,”