The New Zealand Automobile Association (AA) is urging car buyers who have paid a deposit on a new vehicle to talk to their dealers as the new adjustment to the Government's Clean Car Discount Scheme could mean they lose out on the rebate.
The popularity of the Clean Car Discount Scheme has meant the Government had to make changes to the scheme which will be implemented from July 1.
Those changes include increased fees paid by higher-emitting vehicles such as utes, lowering the rebate offered on some new zero-emission vehicles and increasing the subsidy for used imports. Low-emitting petrol cars, however, were now ineligible.
The AA expects the changes will continue nudging car buyers and dealers towards lower emissions vehicles over time but is likely to raise some immediate questions for those currently in the process of buying a car.
Importing vehicles to New Zealand can take weeks, if not months, pushing orders to pass when the new changes are implemented, causing consumers to miss out.
"If you have entered into a purchase agreement for a vehicle that will not be delivered before July 1, go back to your dealer sooner rather than later and discuss whether these changes will have any impact on the price," AA principal policy advisor Terry Collins said in a statement.
While rebates for low-emitting petrol cars are off the cards from July 1, some hybrid buyers may also lose access to the rebate entirely with the maximum emissions output level that qualifies a vehicle for the discount being decreased from 146 grams of CO2 per kilometre to 100 grams. This change effectively excludes all vehicles but Battery Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Hybrids.
The rate for a new EV would drop from $8625 to $7015, while there would be a small increase on the discount for used imports.
The fees on high-emissions vehicles would also be increasing with the maximum fee to rise from $5175 to $6900 on new vehicles and from $2875 to $3450 on used imports.
Auckland City Electric Vehicles owner Nick Jackson criticised the timing of the new changes.
"If some of their rebates are reduced, then they've got to find extra money to go for that," Jackson told RNZ.
"It probably should have been three, four, five, even probably six months out. That would have allowed the consumer and ourselves to plan in advance for it."
The Motor Industry Association said the effective removal or reduction of the rebate for many hybrids and low-emitting petrol vehicles is also disappointing.
"Both were much more in reach of most people than EVs and had an important part to play in emissions reduction," chief executive Lee Marshall said.
