Two VTNZ customers turned away after inspectors deemed their cars too dirty

RNZ News

16-05-2025

A woman's son was unable to do his restricted driver's license test as VTNZ Mt Wellington said the car was too dirty and it was a health and safety issue.
Photo:
Supplied
Two customers have been turned away from VTNZ because inspectors deemed their cars too dirty, with dog hair.
VTNZ reserves the right to reject a vehicle if it is not in a clean and tidy state, it is contaminated or it is impossible to access and properly inspect critical safety components.
Lynn was going for a Warrant of Fitness but the fallout from her dog was apparently too much for the inspector at the Kingsland testing station.
She said the only items in her car were dog hair and bits of paper, as well as a little bag over the gear stick for rubbish.
"There was sand, there was dog hair. I had removed the two metal crates that I have inside there for the dogs. There were some pieces of paper on the floor, like for example, opened envelopes or my notes for vet appointments.
"Where the floor part [is] there was sand. There was no McDonald's, nothing like that, no food containers. I don't eat in the car and no drinks, nothing like that at all."
If the vehicle inspector stepped on the floor, they would've stepped in a bit of sand, but her car was not filled with rubbish, she said.
"I've seen some pictures of heaving, stinking messes of rubbish and it wasn't that. If they leaned across to check the seat belts, there would have been sand and bit of dog hair near them.
"But I know that they weren't there to have a sleep in that space. They were just going to lean over."
VTNZ told Lynn her car was too dirty for them to inspect it for a WOF.
"The guy told me to go home and clean the car and bring it back. I got the impression he had allergies, and I said, 'can you put some gloves on or get somebody else to do it?'
"I thought they were a bit ridiculous to be honest and a bit obsessive and a bit kind of kind of soft."
She said she took her car to Workshop 7 on Morningside Drive, who did her WOF with no issues.
"My dad was a mechanic and he worked in overalls and I did wonder later whether they would tell a bloke the same thing.
"A tradesman with his car, probably full of McDonald's wrappers and all sorts of rubbish. Would they say the same thing to him to go home and clean your car before you come back and have us check it?"
She said VTNZ overreacted to the state of her car. They provided Lynn with a refund.
"These people are mechanics, they're getting into a pit underneath the VTNZ, there's oil there. They do all sorts of checks, it's about kind of the road worthiness of the car, not about the aesthetics."
Anna's son was unable to do his restricted driver's licence test because the instructor said the car was too dirty.
Photo:
Supplied
Another customer Anna took her son to sit his restricted drivers licence test at the Mount Wellington VTNZ and the teen was not allowed to sit the test.
"I was in the waiting room and my son came up and the instructor had said, 'I'm sorry your son won't be able to do the test today because your car's too dirty'. He said there's dog fur and sand and we can't do it. It's a health and safety issue."
Anna said the instructor told her he had failed three people the day before over the same issue.
She provided
Checkpoint
with photos of the passenger seat.
"Yes, there was definitely some sand and grit in the footwell of the passenger seat. There was nothing on the seat."
Her rescue dog sheds but Anna said the car was not a health and safety issue, and the instructor could have worn a mask or put down a covering.
"I'm very annoyed and yeah, it is bureaucracy gone mad. And actually it's quite discriminatory, I think."
She had to pay another $100 for her son's test because of scheduling issues.
"It means he has to wait longer and it's probably impacted his confidence in doing the test. We've managed to get into somewhere at a different place because this particular place is booked out for the next month. If you've got people coming in and doing tests again, it's just going to log jam the system, which had really got better over the last couple of years."
VTNZ told
Checkpoint
they had no comment on the two cases.
The New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi says anyone with complaints about their inspection should be directed to VTNZ in the first instance. Anyone not satisfied with the response can escalate the complaint to NZTA using a "Vehicle Certification Complaint Form'' which can be found online.
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