Digital identification plates

[jansens]

As part of the ongoing saga of getting a car registered in NZ I recently learned about these: https://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/infos...Plates.pdf 

Basically it's a small 'button' that will now be attached to any vehicle that has to go through LVVTA inspection (low volume vehicle inspections) in New Zealand. It's basically an NFC tag that you can then look up the details of any car on the LVVTA website if you have the tag number and VIN number of the car.

It is starting to look more and more like any special, replica, hot rod or modified production vehicle will have to go through the LVVTA process so I presume they all now have to get one of these digital tags. Any car that previously had a LVVTA certification that gets modified will be updated with one. 

What this means is now ALL details of that car are stored in the system and will be checked at the 6 monthly WOF time (for older cars). If anything doesn't match, the car fails and needs to be re-certified. This includes photographs so they can see if the car has been changed.

I don't know how this will affect us vintage car people here in NZ yet. The VCC hasn't mentioned anything about this as far as I know of.

Is there anything like this in the UK?

Simon

[Stuart Giles]

Nothing like that I'm aware of in the UK. Would be a real problem for some of the hot rodders and kit car people where the BIVA test mandates strict requirements re. lighting, radii of bodywork where it might meet a pedestrian etc. Most of the fixes then disappear off the cars once the BIVA test has been passed.

A colleague of mine who produced a replica historic sports racing car kit actually had a 'BIVA' front end with the headlights at legal height that he would loan to customers to get the car through the test. Then the customer would fit his 'correct' front end which had the Headlights some inches below UK legal height.

[Tony Griffiths]

Nothing like that I'm aware of in the UK. Would be a real problem for some of the hot rodders and kit car people where the BIVA test mandates strict requirements re. lighting, radii of bodywork where it might meet a pedestrian etc. Most of the fixes then disappear off the cars once the BIVA test has been passed.

A colleague of mine who produced a replica historic sports racing car kit actually had a 'BIVA' front end with the headlights at legal height that he would loan to customers to get the car through the test. Then the customer would fit his 'correct' front end which had the Headlights some inches below UK legal height.

Much the same in Germany with motorcycles where the wrong radius on the edge of a washer can result in a fail. An easy fix - fit all the original bits and after the test, the stuff you really want.

[Mike Costigan]

Been there, done that... I used to keep a front axle assembly which had good king-pin eyes which would be fitted to whichever Seven needed an MOT, and then swiftly removed ready for the next one.

[jansens]

That's another thing I have heard of happening here. They are slowly re-wording things around repairs to add in bits about wear and repairs having to meet manufacturers specifications or be within acceptable tolerances. So something like wear in king pins could start becoming a problem in the future. Where is it written down what's acceptable? What are the factory specs? I haven't seen an example of that yet but people say it's coming.

One I do know people have been failed for in the past is end float in front wheel bearings on some cars. Modern inspectors don't seem to know it needs to be there in some cases. There have always been exemptions for older cars but these are getting fewer and fewer as they march towards getting 'old' cars off the road. From March last year for example all cars imported into NZ, new and used, now need to have ESC to be allowed in. Good for the general fleet, making cars for the unwashed masses safer and all that but as the fleet gets more modern and the number of 'old' cars gets smaller and smaller it'll get harder for us with vintage/classics to keep them going.

It seems other car groups in NZ are also starting to see issues. This was a piece by the SIV group (special interest vehicles): https://www.sivanz.co.nz/sivanzarmageddon/ 

And even the hot rodders, who the car constructor manual was written for, are starting to have issues it seems. Supposedly we now have outlaw hot rodders about the place not bothering to have their cars certified but still driving them on the roads illegally. That won't end well.

Also interesting is that the LVVTA (the low volume inspectors) always used to be separate from NZTA (Waka Kotahi - the crown entity in charge of land transport in NZ) but last year they signed a 'contract for services' between each other, i.e. the LVVTA people now get money from NZTA. They say that means LVVTA can keep their costs down since previously it was funded only by the fees they charged which is probably a good thing but I can't help wondering what the long term unintended (the cynic in me is saying intended) consequences of this could be too.

It's also important to note that a lot (most?) of the 40 or so certifiers are themselves in the business of modifying cars. So you do hear stories of cars being taken in for inspections and the owners finding out there is a lot of work needed to be done on them. They also get to choose what work they take on which is causing some people issues in finding someone who will even inspect their cars. Also not all certifiers certify the same things. I rang the LVVTA and for a special body there are two in Wellington. One is in Levin and one in Carterton (neither actually being in Wellington). The Levin chap I already spoke to and he didn't seem interested in vintage cars at all. He told me the vintage car people made it harder for the hot rodders. He's about 25km away. The Carterton guy is 120km away. I suppose he's the next one to try assuming I even get the letter from NZTA saying I am allowed to.

To steal that Niemöller quote, 'First they came for the special builders.....'

Simon