Minister Releases Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal Reports

Minister of Consumer Affairs Heather Roy today released the annual reports - for the period July 1 2007-June 30 2008 - from the adjudicators of the upper North Island (Chris Cornwell), lower North Island and South Island (Nicola Wills) Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal.

"The Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal provides a low-cost option for consumers to take motor vehicle disputes, and these reports summarise the applications the Tribunal dealt with during the year," Mrs Roy said.

"The reports are released as required by section 87 of the Motor Vehicles Sale Act 2003, and are available on the Consumer Affairs Ministry of website www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz.

"Included in the reports are details of cases the adjudicators feel require special mention, and which make recommendations for changes to the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003 that - based on the Tribunal's experience - the adjudicator deems desirable.

"In total for the year ended June 30 2008, the Tribunal considered a total of 227 disputes - two thirds of which were found in favour of the motor vehicle purchaser. The Tribunal has received positive feedback from both consumers and traders on the fairness of its decisions and the ease of its process.

"The Tribunal has further suggested that the Consumer Guarantees Act be amended to cover vehicles purchased through online competitive tender. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs will investigate this further," Mrs Roy said.