Update: I wrote most of this article just before getting my A7 registered. Unbelievably, on the day that I got the bike registered the engine seized on my way home. Having put a couple of thousand KM on the bike previously, the timing was crazy. So obviously I’ll be posting on rebuilding an A7 bottom end in the near future, but here is some information on getting an older vehicle re-registered in New Zealand. I rushed most of this, but hopefully there’s enough info here for you.

Getting an old vehicle re-registered can be a real pain – having been through it, I have learnt quite a lot about the process. If you have any specific queries, please feel free to email me by clicking the Contact link above. Otherwise hopefully the info below will satisfy.

Registration

Depending on your level of documentation, getting a previously registered vehicle re-registered may not be terribly complex, but life gets much more difficult without a few pieces of important paper. The information is mostly laid out here on the NZTA website (click the Technical Information tab). I must say though that even NZTA gives different information in different areas of the website. The link above is the best source I could find. The basic process is this:

This step isn’t laid out on the website but is important – find out why the vehicle isn’t registered Prove that the vehicle was previously registered in New Zealand Prove that you’re entitled to register it (related to the above) Pass an inspection

Seems simple enough doesn’t it? Let’s look at each step.

Why isn’t the vehicle registered?

There are a few reasons that the vehicle may not be registered any more:

De-registration from a previous owner – do you still have documentation? This would be handy for the next step.

Registration lapsed – if rego isn’t paid for two years the registration will be cancelled. This isn’t a problem in itself, but you will likely have no documentation for this.

De-registration from an insurance company – if it was de-registered for cosmetic reasons (very common), then no problem. If they de-registered it for major frame/structural damage then you will probably need an engineers cert. I didn’t explore this any further as my bike clearly has no major accident damage.

Perhaps it was never registered in New Zealand? If so your job just got a lot harder.

Prove that the vehicle was previously registered in New Zealand

Here is the first crucial piece of documentation you need to provide. The proof can come in many different forms:

Documentation such as an old WOF sheet, registration papers, insurance documents etc.

Manufacturers/importers documentation.

Old number plates if you still have them.

De-registration documentation.

If you have the old plates or any of the above, you can skip the section below and go straight to “Prove that you’re entitled to register”. If you don’t have any of the above, you will need to go through the Alternative Documents process. What this means is putting together enough documentation that NZTA will be satisfied that the vehicle isn’t stolen and that the vehicle is what you say it is. There’s no given set of documents you need to do this, but I provided the following:

A declaration from the NZ Police that they have no interest in the vehicle. This can be obtained by going to the nearest station with your engine and frame numbers and filling out a very short form. They will do a check and get back to you by email shortly. This only took a few days. The response stated that they have run the engine and frame numbers and found no record of this bike being stolen. They also checked the names of the previous owners (which I gave them) and couldn’t find any record of the bike having been registered by them, which is no surprise because apparently a lot of the old registration documentation (pre-1994 or something) was never transferred to the electronic system.

that they have no interest in the vehicle. This can be obtained by going to the nearest station with your engine and frame numbers and filling out a very short form. They will do a check and get back to you by email shortly. This only took a few days. The response stated that they have run the engine and frame numbers and found no record of this bike being stolen. They also checked the names of the previous owners (which I gave them) and couldn’t find any record of the bike having been registered by them, which is no surprise because apparently a lot of the old registration documentation (pre-1994 or something) was never transferred to the electronic system. A Vintage Car Club Authenticity Statement – it’s not clear whether this is essential, but apparently will almost guarantee approval if all the other documentation is complete. Basically you need to visit the Vintage Car Club website and download form A1. Fill out this form, and contact your nearest VCC “branch”, which will consist of an older gent who will extort you for $100 to write a COA. You will need to bring some photos of the vehicle (they’re very particular about size) and some proof that the vehicle is what you say it is. In my case I bought some magazine clippings that showed the age of the vehicle and some info on frame number ranges that helped date it to the exact year. After a very long time (about 3-4 weeks) they will post you a copy of your authenticity statement that confirms the age, make and model of the bike.

– it’s not clear whether this is essential, but apparently will almost guarantee approval if all the other documentation is complete. Basically you need to visit the Vintage Car Club website and download form A1. Fill out this form, and contact your nearest VCC “branch”, which will consist of an older gent who will extort you for $100 to write a COA. You will need to bring some photos of the vehicle (they’re very particular about size) and some proof that the vehicle is what you say it is. In my case I bought some magazine clippings that showed the age of the vehicle and some info on frame number ranges that helped date it to the exact year. After a very long time (about 3-4 weeks) they will post you a copy of your authenticity statement that confirms the age, make and model of the bike. A receipt for the sale of the vehicle from the previous owner (see below in the “proof of entitlement section for more info)

(see below in the “proof of entitlement section for more info) A statutory declaration of ownership (again, see below)

(again, see below) I also included this handy letter that Kawasaki prepared for me – not very definitive but every bit helps.

Once you’ve got all the above, go to your local TSD agent (e.g. VINZ, VTNZ etc) and have them sight the vehicle frame and engine numbers and the above documents, and they’ll prepare a letter that looks something like this. This is essential as NZTA won’t consider an application without this.

Lastly, you need to prepare the NZTA Alternative Documents form. Write your piece, attach all the documents and email/fax/mail this to NZTA. I emailed it and got a response that said it could take up to 20 working days. The VTNZ agent said it would take about two weeks. To my amazement, I sent this away on a Friday afternoon and got a response in the post on the next Wednesday. The response will be a simple letter that gives permission to a TSD agent to register a new LANDATA record for the vehicle.

So it’s a bit of a muck around, but really not as much work as it sounds.

Prove that you’re entitled to register the vehicle

If you’ve got one of the forms of documentation shown above (under Prove that the vehicle was previously registered) then you just need to prove that you’re entitled to register the vehicle. If you’ve gone through Alternative Documents, you’ve already done this and don’t need to proceed with this step.

Most of the above steps are designed to stop stolen vehicles from making their way back onto the register with a new identity, and proving your entitlement to register is perhaps the most important part. The idea here is to prove that you have legal ownership of the vehicle. With registered vehicles this is simple enough – when a vehicle changes hands both the previous and new owners submit paperwork to the government to change ownership. In the case of a de-registered vehicle you need to prove the chain of ownership between the last registered owner and yourself. In my mind it was easy to prove my ownership – the last registered owner was the guy who sold it to me. Unfortunately we couldn’t prove that he was the last registered owner because there was no registration history.

If you can’t prove you are the legal owner of the vehicle, you can get a statutory declaration signed in front of a JP, in which you swear that you’re the legal owner of the vehicle. This, coupled with a letter from the NZ Police that they have no interest in the vehicle, should be sufficient to prove your ownership. The form of the statutory declaration isn’t important, as long as it contains the following language:

“I make this solemn declaration conscientiously declaring the same to be true and by virtue of the Oaths and Declarations Act 1957”

Inspection and Registration

Once you’ve done all of the above and have all your documentation you can take the vehicle to VTNZ/VINZ/etc to get it re-VIN’d. On motorbikes this means they need to do an inspection that is similar to a WOF but with some extra checks. Exactly what needs to be checked depends on the age of the bike. For example, if the bike is pre-1991 you don’t need a brake declaration. I had one anyway because my mechanic measured up my brakes when he changed the tyres. If it’s pre-1978 you don’t need indicators and mirrors. There are all kinds of rules and it’s best to find the VIN agent who is most experienced with these rules so you don’t have to chase them up.

In my case this process cost $200, which included an inspection, VIN tag and WOF. I dropped it off one day and the next day got a call that it was ready to be picked up. From there it was about another $50 to register the bike, and about $120 for a (classic vehicle) license for 12 months. All together it was a painless process and not as expensive as I was anticipating.

Conclusion

All in all this process was a hassle, but not as much trouble as it’s often made out to be. You can register almost any vehicle in NZ, as long as you’re willing to write a few cheques and jump through a few hoops. There’s one piece of advice that people kept giving me – listen to the bureaucrats and give them what they want. There’s no point in trying to fight with them, just stay on their side and slowly gather all the information you need.

Also, the Vintage Car Club certificate is well worth while because this solves a lot of the issues you might have.

Good luck.