[john & becky]

Can anybody tell me what the situation is with diesel cars in NZ please.

We have a diesel car which we would like to bring with us, i understand that the diesel is cheap to buy but there is another charge which must be paid on top? :confused:

[dawn]

You have to pay tax, roughly $24 per 1000 kilometrs, I don't have the exact figures. Apparently, you can buy a certain amount of kilometres in increments of 1000. Sorry, not much help but that's all hubby knows.

He found this which might help: http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/factsheets/38.html

[DB]

Thats about the size of it.

In the UK there are two "sorts" of diesel available, road diesel which is taxed, and agricultural diesel which is not taxed. The agricultural diesel has a red dye, so sometimes called red diesel, the dye stains the engine, so a C&E inspector can take your engine apart to check for staining (which they have rights to do), and oif so found you will be charged with a duty evasion offense.

Here in NZ we just have one sort of diesel, which is untaxed.

If you have a motor vehicle which runs on any fuel not taxed at source (so anything other than petrol and LPG) then you need to pay "road user charges". The rest of the story you'll find in the LTSA factsheet Dawn referenced above.

[StevieD]

How is it policed so to speak? Do you have the mileage taken when the car is tested? I can see lots of electric drills being pressed into service to "clock" the cars if not! :laugh

[DB]

The Road User Charge is a ticket like thing, like a rectangular version of a UK tax disc, which has printed on it your reg number plus the range of KMs its good for. Its the same size and shape as the registration docket, which every car also has. Also stuck on your windscreen in the opposite top corner is your Warrant of Fitness sticker, so Mr Policeman can check everything about your car in about 10 seconds. He checks you out (in practice its obligatory to carry one's licence whilst driving) including a breath test in about another 10 seconds. So a random check is all over in less than a minute, with some cheery humour and a goodbye wave.

Folks in NZ are by and large honest, so there isnt a cottage industry of winder-backers, leastways not hereabouts.

Topping up RUCs is easy-ish, go to post office, fill out form, hand over old RUCs and EFTPOS card, get new RUCs, off you go. I say "ish" 'cos the form is an example of how not to design forms, its really easy if you can only work out which boxes you need to fill out, and for a top-up of the same KMs as last time theres only about four things including signature...

[Charlosparky]

So is it still cheaper to run diesel than a petrol car as it is (assuming you do a hundred plus miles a week)as it is here in the UK :confused: ?

[DB]

Today, petrol is $1.479/L, diesel is $0.999/L.

Road user charges for a 3 tonne vehicle are $31.41 / 10,000 KM.

So, to make diesel more expensive than petrol, and if my sums are right, your vehicle would need to consume about 152L per KM, and not even a hummer does that :) So yeah, diesel is cheaper than petrol, even before you consider that generally diesel vehicles do KMs per litre than petrol.

[Charlosparky]

Cool! I shall still get a diesel then :nice1 Thanks for that info.

[Paul & Rach]

Diesel tax is paid by pre-purchase of distance licences. For a normal car this costs $31.41 per 1000 km (One thousand not ten thousand).

I did a few calculations :


Based on comparing a 30mpg petrol car to a similar 45mpg diesel over 10,000km per year....

The diesel costs just 67% of the petrol car (which is actually better than the UK cost of 70%)

Still doesn't explain why there are so few diesels on the road in NZ... they're every where here !!! :confused:

[Ant&Eve]

I did these calcs recently when deliberating over a seemingly cheap petrol 4x4 compared to more expensive diesels. Petrol cars have bigger service intervals than turbo diesels, whereas diesels have of course the road user charge. Based on my annual travel distance, diesel was quite a lot cheaper, so that’s what I went for.

Incidentally (or rather anecdotally) there seems to me to be heaps of diesels down here in Christchurch. One nice touch at garages here is that it’s very common for forecourt attendants to come out and re-fuel your diesel car for you, whereas they don’t seem to bother with petrol.

21350 klm per annum

Diesel Petrol
$10.00 $15.00 ltr / 100 klm
$1.09 $1.50 $ / ltr
$2,135.00 $3,202.50 lts per annum
$2,327.15 $4,803.75 Cost of fuel per annum
$512.40 $384.30 Servicing costs (7,500klm for diesel; 10,000klm for petrol)
$670.39 $0.00 Road user charge

$3,509.94 $5,188.05 Total & diff $1,678.11

[SteveR]

diesel road user charges are going up on the 1st of April to $32.15 per 1000km's and dont forget to add on the $9.56 you pay for each transaction.
this is for vehicles upto 3000kg

[katandbob]

Wow my head hurts!!! :o

think I'll leave this stuff to Rob, he does better at me at maths!

I just get in and drive :laugh

[StevieD]

Still fancy a diesel motor though - less tricky than their petrol counterparts. Will do the sums when my head isn't hurting so much!!

[Rav]

diesel road user charges are going up on the 1st of April to $32.15 per 1000km's and dont forget to add on the $9.56 you pay for each transaction.
this is for vehicles upto 3000kg
Hi there
I was hoping to import my diesel car when I emigrate(hopefully) next yr.Could you elaborate a bit more on $9.56 for each transaction-what does this mean?thanks

[SteveR]

you buy your road user charges per 1000km, so say you went and bought just 1000 it would cost you:

1*$32.15 + $9.56 = $41.71
the $9.56 is the transaction fee, but if you bought 8000km worth it would be:
8*$32.15 + $9.56 = $266.76

it is just the admin/transaction fee payable each time.

VTNZ-VINZ-Post Shop, should all have the same transaction fee

[xanctus]

Sorry bringing up the old thread here...but I don't quite understand why NZ has a rule about this km quota on diesel cars. I want diesel car badly, but not sure with this situation.
Are the diesel fuel really bad here in NZ???

[beano_bill]

you buy your road user charges per 1000km, so say you went and bought just 1000 it would cost you:

1*$32.15 + $9.56 = $41.71
the $9.56 is the transaction fee, but if you bought 8000km worth it would be:
8*$32.15 + $9.56 = $266.76
=

Apologies if this is a bit of a thick question, but does the RUC work along the same principles as our (horrendous) Road Fund Licence - by which I mean are your RUC's only valid for 1 year?

If I bought, for arguments sake, 12,000kms at $385.80 + $9.56 and didn't use it all within the year would i lose the kms that are left after the 12 month period??

[StevieD]

So it's diesels all round then!! I want a diesel car simple as that. Prefer the engines and seeing as I am no longer a hoon/boy racer type, not exactly interested in 0-60 figures.

[xanctus]

So it's diesels all round then!! I want a diesel car simple as that. Prefer the engines and seeing as I am no longer a hoon/boy racer type, not exactly interested in 0-60 figures.

So agree with you...:D
boy Racers are just so bad in my opinion here in NZ. Revving the engine at midnight in downtown area...ck ck ck

[Trigirl]

Sorry bringing up the old thread here...but I don't quite understand why NZ has a rule about this km quota on diesel cars. I want diesel car badly, but not sure with this situation.
Are the diesel fuel really bad here in NZ???

From the land transport website
"All users of New Zealand's roads contribute towards their upkeep. Most road users pay levies in the prices of their fuel. Others, such as users of diesel-powered or electric vehicles, pay through road user charges (RUC)."

So diesel doesn't have tax included in the price as it does in most countries. Hence you pay the tax on a mileage basis instead.

[SteveR]

Apologies if this is a bit of a thick question, but does the RUC work along the same principles as our (horrendous) Road Fund Licence - by which I mean are your RUC's only valid for 1 year?

If I bought, for arguments sake, 12,000kms at $385.80 + $9.56 and didn't use it all within the year would i lose the kms that are left after the 12 month period??


no there is no time limit you have to use them by. all it is as has been said above there is no excise duty on diesel so this is collected by the road user charge (RUC) the heaveier the vehicle and the more KM's you drive the more you pay. vehicles upto 3 ton are all the same price but a 40 ton truck will cost a lot more.

[StevieD]

And you can't ask fairer than that can you. I mean you have to buy road tax in the uk, even if you drive 2 miles, you get whacked for the whole charge.

UK should have this type of tax, it is fairer. The more you use, the more you pay.

[SteveR]

UK should have this type of tax, it is fairer. The more you use, the more you pay.

it is very similar to the UK:

UK - duty is added to the price of diesel
NZ - you pay for it separetly

word of warning!!!
for those of you who might buy a diesel car over here, if buying it "used " make sure that the RUC is upto date. ie: on the label in the window it will say that it is paid upto *****kms check that it is more than it reads on the mileometer!!! as the new buyer will be liable for bringing it upto date if caught and a fine i think which is $1000 per 1000kms!!!

i have known some cars to be 70,000kms behind with the RUC this will make it a expensive car if you have to pay the back pay as well as the price of the car

so make sure the seller brings the RUC into credit before you buy.