The amount of reparation a 20-year-old who crashed into a car yard will have to pay is yet to be decided.

A Taranaki car dealer fears he could end up heavily out of pocket after a magistrate said she would not force a driver to pay $13,000 for damage caused when he lost control after drinking and slammed into parked vehicles.

Community magistrate Lesley Jensen said Darryl MacDonald, owner of New Plymouth's Amber and Black Quality Cars, had chosen not to have insurance.

She said 20-year-old driver Kainamu Tamihana Whitinui should make reparation for the damage he caused when he crashed through a set of wooden bollards and hit the vehicles on June 1, but not that much.

Murray Chong Kainamu Whitinui's Nissan Skyline as it was removed from a crash scene in New Plymouth after his dangerous driving on June 1.

"I'm not prepared to be awarding a $13,000 reparation for someone who has chosen not to get their cars insured," she said.

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"I think some reparation is in order but I think for this man's age and previously clean record I wouldn't be going there."

GRANT MATTHEW/STUFF Business owner Darryl MacDonald wants the defendant to stump up $13,000 for the repairs.

But MacDonald, who claims the repairs actually totalled about $19,000, said couldn't afford insurance.

"I think it's b......t," MacDonald said after Wednesday's hearing in the New Plymouth District Court.

He had only been in business for about four months and said it was the fourth crash near his property.

"The cost to insure a car yard is just too expensive...and it's not the law, you don't have to have it."

Whitinui racked up the repair bill when he got behind the wheel of his Nissan Skyline after drinking alcohol at a mate's house, a police summary of facts detailed.

About 11.20pm he was driving south on Northgate but as he increased speed he lost control of the car and failed to take a bend along the city's main thoroughfare.

The vehicle veered left, into the unoccupied lane, went up and over a traffic island at the Watson St intersection before it mounted the footpath and smashed into the car yard.

All up, the summary of facts said four cars were extensively damaged but no one had been injured.

Whitinui was breath tested at the scene by police and registered a reading of 292 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250 mcgs.

The defendant, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving in a dangerous manner at an earlier appearance.

Jensen ordered a report to be prepared to establish Whitinui's means and the amount of reparation he could afford to pay.

He was remanded at large to reappear on August 22.