NSW passes write-off law

 

Laws to stop car re-birthing, improve road safety and protect consumers scheduled for November.

The banning of repairable write-offs in NSW is now law with the passing of the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Amendment (Written-off Vehicles) Bill 2010 in both houses of NSW Parliament.

In the lead-up to introducing the legislation, NSW Roads Minister David Borger, Police Minister Michael Daley and Fair Trading Minister Virginia Judge announced  the new consumer protection and road safety laws for written-off vehicles.

As a backdrop they used a poorly repaired Toyota Corolla, which was subsequently crash tested by the NSW Motor Traders Association.

The vehicle had been used to highlight the issues of unsafe repair when written-off vehicles are sold at auction,put back on the road by back yard repairers and sold to unsuspecting motorists.

According to Borger, the laws are among the most important consumer protection and vehicle safety reforms in Australia.

“These reforms tackle the risk to the community of organised vehicle theft and re-birthing, where stolen parts are used to illegally rebuild written-off vehicles,” Borger said.

“All NSW vehicles written off from November will be classified as statutory write-offs and will not be able to be re-registered.

“It is estimated about 60 per cent of write-offs presented for re-registration contain stolen or suspect parts and some are dangerously repaired.

“In the event of a crash, the vehicle may not provide the expected level of safety and protection to occupants and may increase the chance or severity of a crash.”

Judge said the new laws would help protect unsuspecting consumers from purchasing vehicles with shoddy workmanship.

“It’s widely known licensed repairers often aren’t the ones fixing these write-offs with legitimately sourced parts because it isn’t financially viable,” Judge said.

“These new laws put to an end the ability for unscrupulous people to cosmetically repair written-off vehicles and on-sell them.”

Borger said that during the past few years, the NSW government had made significant improvements regarding written-off vehicles, such as the introduction of the RTA’s Vehicle History Check service.

“However, in the financial year 2009-2010, there were still more than 18,000 cars stolen in NSW, 5700 of which have still not been recovered,” he said.

Police Minister Michael Daley said the legislative reforms will assist police in their efforts to crack down on criminals that are re-birthing vehicles.

“Despite the almost 30 per cent reduction in motor vehicle theft over the past five years, the NSW Police Force advises that professional theft and re-birthing activity has increased as a proportion of the overall theft rate,” Daley said.

“So while we’ve taken some effective steps to clamp down on car re-birthing, criminals have also evolved their re-birthing techniques in their endeavours to side step the law – and it’s time we put a stop to this.

“Police are aware that there is a black market for buying write-offs, then using stolen parts to rebirth and register vehicles that are then sold on for a profit.

“Banning the re-registration of all write-offs is the most effective way to combat this criminal activity.”

Borger said the RTA worked with the NSW Police Force, Fair Trading NSW, the Motor Traders’ Association and a wide range of other key stakeholders in developing the laws.
“NSW is leading the way in clamping down on the criminals who profit from putting re-birthed written-off vehicles back on our roads,” he said.

NSW MTA CEO James McCall praised the government for taking action to tackle the issue of written-off vehicles.