General LTSA Stupidity

[sAsLEX]

Well half time in the rugby tonight so off to the chippy for tea, while there i got reading some nz motoring magazine, and an article caught my eye (after they mistakenly thought the Veryon had a 1001 Kmhr speedo)

Anyways the story followed Jerry Clayton and his attempts to bring a 99 Modena Ferrari in to the country. LTSA said no you cant it doesn't meet our frontal impact standards, so Jerry went thats crap and took them to court and won, also had his considerable court costs paid for by LTSA.

LTSA then went thats not nice and went to appeals court, where again they lost and again had to waste our taxpayers money on theirs and Jerry's court costs.

The Judge also ripped the LTSA apart over how a 360 could possibly not be upto NZ standards, when the 355 which was met and exceeded the European, Australian and other standards, and also when the Modena was built that it also met these standards but not the smorgasboard of standards here.

So in summing up the LTSA wasted two court battles over a car that obviously was up to standard all cause they didnt like someone else being right.

[onearmedbandit]

Are CCS issueing statement of compliances for Ferraris now, or was this his attempt at getting past that?

[Nicksta]

that is just utter stupidity on the LTSA's part.....
and we had to pay for it.... argh....
grrr that also reminded me my rego is due in a few weeks

[sAsLEX]

Are CCS issueing statement of compliances for Ferraris now, or was this his attempt at getting past that?

Didn't mention that in the article. He was privatly importing the modena and LTSA tried to stop him.

[onearmedbandit]

For a lot of Euro cars you have to have a statemeent of compliance issued for that particular vehicle from the importer of that vehicle. IE you have to go to Land Rover NZ to get a statement if you bring a Range Rover in. To protect their market CCS were refusing to issue any for imported Ferraris. I remember Jerry bringing that Modena in and being refused a statement to comply it. He tried taking them to court over it, not 100% sure if he was successful but I think the court was leaning in his direction.

We've looked at some from Japan but knew it was pointless due to this problem. 'Twas a couple years back now, might've changed.

[nadroj]

The other option especially if it is a first of type is to go thru the Low Volume Vehicle Certification process. Many including mass produced GT40, McLaren F1 etc have done it this way. Tony Johnson at LVVTA is the man to speak to in Auckland - the guy you see on TV now & then looking over 'Boy Racer' cars.

[WINJA]

for being such pig headed idiots the people at ltsa responsible should be fired

[onearmedbandit]

The other option especially if it is a first of type is to go thru the Low Volume Vehicle Certification process. Many including mass produced GT40, McLaren F1 etc have done it this way. Tony Johnson at LVVTA is the man to speak to in Auckland - the guy you see on TV now & then looking over 'Boy Racer' cars.

I think you'll find 'certification' is different to compliance. I'll check with our neighbour tomorrow, one of ch-ch's most sought after certifiers.

[Ixion]

Yes, certification and compliance are different.

All vehicles on NZ roads must EITHER comply with a bunch of of design standards (Euro standards, Aust Design rules blah blah ) These are fiendishly complex waffle that covers all aspects of vehicle design - crash testing, emissions you name it. Normally this is all done by the manufacturers, who then get sign off from the various governments. So that's where the Ferrari agent came in, the guy importing the car wanted the agent to provide the compliance info from Ferrari.So he could go alonmg to LTSA, say, See, it complies with all the crap, now rego it .

Compliance is just showing that the vehicle is the same substantially as when the manufacturer built it. Then it , by definition, complies with all those standards

Other option, if you've bult a car yourself, or some reason can't get compliance info (maybe manufacturer has gone out of business etc) is Low Volume Certification. which basically is some expert dude, who's approved by the NZ gubbermint looks it over and (hopefully) says, yeah, it's all good shit.

EDIT This is of course horrendously simplified.

[nadroj]

I think you'll find 'certification' is different to compliance. I'll check with our neighbour tomorrow, one of ch-ch's most sought after certifiers.

Who Don? I did Low Volume Vehicle Certification for 10 years & helped with it's setup so unless things have changed drastically ... I see Aussie are basing their new system on our original Code of Construction Manual written in 89-90 (see NZ hot rod magazine last month)
Certification comes in for Modified Vehicles andLow volume vehicles (built in NZ or imported)

[onearmedbandit]

I thought you knew your shit when it came to this subject. Not Don, but Wayne Martin. Can LVVC issue MR2A's?

[k14]

For a lot of Euro cars you have to have a statemeent of compliance issued for that particular vehicle from the importer of that vehicle. IE you have to go to Land Rover NZ to get a statement if you bring a Range Rover in. To protect their market CCS were refusing to issue any for imported Ferraris. I remember Jerry bringing that Modena in and being refused a statement to comply it. He tried taking them to court over it, not 100% sure if he was successful but I think the court was leaning in his direction.

We've looked at some from Japan but knew it was pointless due to this problem. 'Twas a couple years back now, might've changed.

Yeah I heard it costs around $30k to get one off the nz agent (which iirc is CCS asweel) if you import a bently from japan. Similar for porsche etc. Although I'm assuming that after this court case it will open up people to not having to purchase the statement from the nz agent maybe?

[onearmedbandit]

Nah, you still have to purchase them. Costs about $500 for a Rangie, $50 for a new shape Mondeo for Ford. Just CCS were not allowing anyone at all to even purchase one. To a degree I can understand, you sell a brand Ferrari for window price, saying that the car will hold a certain value to the customer. Then all of a sudden there are a number of imports knocking the stuffing out of your prices, cue one very upset customer.

[Motu]

So it's just a minor power play tiff between Jerry Clayton and Continental Cars,and LTNZ proves powerless.Where's Colin Giltrap to complete the triad?

[bugjuice]

what about kit cars..?? can't import them, yet you can build the same thing within the country..??

so just import a car in bits, then build it, then you can have it..
the laws suck balls anyway. Yet again, people behind desks extracted from the real world, making all the important decisions