[Greaterpace]

Hey guys,

My wife is going to learn to drive soon, she is organising the theory test now. I know its a rule that learner drivers must be accompanied by someone who has had a full license for at least 2 years. I have only had my full car license for a year and a half, but I've had a full motorbike license for 2 and a half years. They are Irish licenses, haven't changed them for an NZ one yet.

Would the full motorbike license do for me accompanying my wife or must it be a car full license?

[Jolie]

I may be wrong, and if so, hopefully someone else will know for sure. I've checked the NZ Road Code, and it does not specify country:

"Your supervisor must be someone who currently holds, and has held for at least 2 years, a full car driver licence. He or she must sit in the front passenger seat and is in charge of the vehicle while you are driving."

But it's my understanding that they are referring to a NZ driver's license, and that a foreign one is not acceptable for this purpose. But I may be mistaken.


As far as a motorcyclist's license, it will not be sufficient because it is not considered a "full car driver license" as specified above:

"If you already hold a motorcycle licence and you want to become a car driver as well, you must still sit the graduated car licence tests. This is because the skills involved in driving a car are quite different to those used when riding a motorcycle, and you must be able to show that you have those skills."

[Jolie]

Addendum:

"If you hold and have held for at least 2 years a driver licence that was issued in Australia, Canada, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, the USA or a member state of the European Union, and the licence is current or expired no more than 1 year ago, you won't have to sit this practical test."

This makes me think that if you have held a full driver's licence from any of those listed countries for at least 2 years, you would be able to serve as a "supervisor" for a learner driver.

What it also makes me think, Greaterpace, is that you will want to wait until you've held your licence for more than 2 years before you apply for an NZ licence -- otherwise you will have to take the driving practical in addition to the written test.

Note to those who are coming over with a licence from one of those countries which was renewed less than 2 years ago: you have to be able to prove that you held a licence before that, and that the current licence is a renewal, not an initial licence.

In my case, I could get proof of that online from my state in the U.S. -- but to cut down on fraud, they had protected the site from being accessed by people with overseas IP addresses. I had to give a trusted friend in the States my personal details and let him order it for me with his credit card (because of course there was a fee).

So if you're coming over here with a renewal licence less than 2 years old, be sure to bring either your previous licence with you, or a statement from the Department of Transportation (or whatever it's called in your country) that shows that you've actually held a full driver's licence for more than 2 years -- it will save you the hassle of trying to get such a document from overseas. And if you've had a vision exam less than 1 year ago, bring a copy of the results of that with you.

And if you live in Auckland, I highly recommend avoiding the Quay Street AA licencing office when you decide where to go to apply for your licence. The people I dealt with there could not speak English fluently enough for me to understand them -- or for them to understand what I was saying, I had to say things over and over again, it was so incredibly frustrating -- they gave me incorrect instructions, and the vision testing machine they have there is SO archaic that only people with uncorrected vision can pass the test (it doesn't matter if you can see fine with your glasses or contacts, you won't pass the test -- I know several people who had this problem).

It took me 4 different trips there and quite a few wasted hours to actually finally get my licence. They told me that I couldn't take the written test until I had proof of a successful vision test (untrue). When I returned with that, they told me that they could not let me take the written test, because no one was allowed to start the test less than 1 hour from closing time (which was 55 minutes away). When I went back on yet another day and they finally DID let me take the written test, the first photo they took of me did not turn out (of course, I didn't find this out until I received, instead of a licence, a letter about it 2 weeks later, when I had to go back and get my picture taken again).

Time actually elapsed taking the written test, on which I got a perfect score: 5 minutes.

[Jo Jo]

I may be wrong, and if so, hopefully someone else will know for sure. I've checked the NZ Road Code, and it does not specify country:

"Your supervisor must be someone who currently holds, and has held for at least 2 years, a full car driver licence. He or she must sit in the front passenger seat and is in charge of the vehicle while you are driving."

But it's my understanding that they are referring to a NZ driver's license, and that a foreign one is not acceptable for this purpose. But I may be mistaken.





On the NZ Transport Agency website, under Learner License conditions (http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/licensing/car/learner.html), it says:


You must not drive on your own. A supervisor must be sitting in the front passenger seat beside you when you're driving. Your supervisor must hold (and have held for at least two years) a current full New Zealand driver licence.

(Highlighting mine.)

[Jolie]

Ah, JoJo, thanks for that, I thought I got it from somewhere, it's nice to know that I'm not quite as senile as I thought...


:)

[Duncan74]

Ah, JoJo, thanks for that, I thought I got it from somewhere, it's nice to know that I'm not quite as senile as I thought...





Half past three dear.

[Ben2008]

When I was in the UK, to be on the safe side I just signed up with driving school and got it done quickly.

Just did not want any run in with the law and explaining that I was ignorant or did not check the law. Had enough challenges with the move! Did not need another headache or hole in the what was left of my pocket.

[IanW99]

...
And if you live in Auckland, I highly recommend avoiding the Quay Street AA licencing office when you decide where to go to apply for your licence. The people I dealt with there could not speak English fluently enough for me to understand them -- or for them to understand what I was saying, I had to say things over and over again, it was so incredibly frustrating -- they gave me incorrect instructions, and the vision testing machine they have there is SO archaic that only people with uncorrected vision can pass the test (it doesn't matter if you can see fine with your glasses or contacts, you won't pass the test -- I know several people who had this problem).
...


To be fair, I assume that they process many applications every day without any issues at all and it could be that it is the difference in accents that made it difficult. If the problem is that the operators are more fluent in another language? then of course many people on this board may well speak the same language so again not necessarily a bad thing for them to use this branch.

Regards the eye test, this machine doesn't just test that you can read and many people with eye conditions can not pass the test regardless of glasses or contact lenses and AFAIK these machines are standard across NZ. I guess that its possible that this one needs recalibrating?

Ian

[Jolie]

If the problem is that the operators are more fluent in another language?

I dealt with 4 different employees, one of which was the manager. They were ALL of the same heritage, so I suspect that there was a little nepotism going on there. At least part of the problem seemed to be that they didn't know what the rules were -- and so gave me misinformation. Part of the problem was that they couldn't understand what I was saying, and I had to keep repeating myself, or trying to rephrase what I was saying in a way that they could understand.



If the problem is that the operators are more fluent in another language? then of course many people on this board may well speak the same language so again not necessarily a bad thing for them to use this branch.
Sorry, but I think you're making excuses there. Part of the reason NZIS is so insistent on English proficiency is because migrants who come to work here will have to be able to communicate effectively with people from many different countries. Saying, "Well I'm sure they do a good job with all the migrants from their own country" is not really a good justification.

And since I'm not going to specify where the employees were from, people on this forum are not going to know whether it's the same country as them. It's not relevant, anyway. I know several people from the same country here who are quite fluent in English. I will say that it's a country which seems not to have a huge number of members in this forum.



I guess that its possible that this one needs recalibrating?

The eye doctor to whom I went to get an eye exam certificate said my corrected vision was nearly perfect, and upon hearing why I was there, asked me what sort of machine it was. I described it, and he told me, "Oh, that's because it's one of the old machines, eye doctors don't use that machine any more. The way it works, it doesn't take into account how well you can see with both eyes together" -- which is of course how everyone drives, no one drives with one eye closed.

[IanW99]

...
Sorry, but I think you're making excuses there. Part of the reason NZIS is so insistent on English proficiency is because migrants who come to work here will have to be able to communicate effectively with people from many different countries. Saying, "Well I'm sure they do a good job with all the migrants from their own country" is not really a good justification.

And since I'm not going to specify where the employees were from, people on this forum are not going to know whether it's the same country as them. It's not relevant, anyway. I know several people from the same country here who are quite fluent in English. I will say that it's a country which seems not to have a huge number of members in this forum.
...


Sorry, you missed my point...

I wasn't making excuses for them as I wasn't there and no idea whether it is just an accent issue i.e. they can and do speak english well, or if it is a language issue and that they don't speak english as well as they should?

The point I was trying to make (badly) was that whilst not speaking english well would be a bad point for you and many others on this forum and your recommendation to avoid them would be useful, for others who maybe could converse with them in their native language then this could actually be an advantage to them.

Ian

[Jolie]

for others who maybe could converse with them in their native language then this could actually be an advantage to them.

It might be... but it wouldn't exactly help them with the assimilation process in NZ, would it? Recommendations on this forum of "you should go to this office for that thing, because everyone who works there is from your home country" would just be enabling migrants not to assimilate. I don't think that would be doing them any great favours.

[Greaterpace]

Thanks for all your help guys, especially jolie:nice1