Licensing means paying a fee to use your vehicle on public roads. This is the label that is displayed on your windscreen.
The AA is authorised by the NZ Transport Agency to be Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agents.
Register and license your car
Registration and licensing
Your vehicle must be both registered and licensed for you to legally drive it on the road. Licensing is often incorrectly called registration.
Registration
Vehicle registration is where a new car is added to the Motor Vehicle Register and given registration plates. The combination of numbers and letters on the plate is used to identify the vehicle, and enables it to be traced to an owner. The one-off registration fee covers the cost of the plates and administration.
Re-registering your vehicle after the registration has lapsed
Licensing
Vehicle licensing is the annual or six-monthly fee you pay to use your vehicle on public roads. The fee helps pay for motoring-related costs and initiatives.
The licence fee goes to the National Land Transport Fund for road construction, and to safety programmes run by the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Police. It is broken down as:
- The Motor Vehicle Account Levy is collected on behalf of the ACC, and covers injury medical costs
- An administration and licence label fee funds services provided by the New Zealand Transport Agency and its agents
- Penalties for vehicle registration or licence offences
The standard penalty for driving an unregistered or unlicensed car is $200, but from 1 May 2011, Police have been able to issue driver licence demerit points for these offences. The introduction of demerits is intended to be a more effective deterrent to those who try to avoid paying their annual vehicle re-licence fees.
Pricing
ACC has now removed the variable vehicle rating (VRR) which has standardised registration costs.
The following prices include an ACC levy and the online administration fee. All the prices below are inclusive of GST.
| Motor vehicle type/usage | 3 months | 6 months | 12 months |
| Private passenger vehicle - Petrol | $33.29 | $57.88 | $107.09 |
| Private passenger vehicle - Diesel | $50.23 | $91.79 | $174.92 |
| Private passenger vehicle - Electric | $33.29 | $57.88 | $107.09 |
For further information go to the NZTA website or call 0800 108 809.
One location for all your car and driver licensing needs
Visit your nearest AA Centre or AA Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agent for information on:
- New car registrations
- Change of ownership
- New licence number plates
- Car re-licensing
- Road user charges
AA speaking up for motorists
The AA supports the current vehicle registration and licensing schemes which see revenue invested in road construction and safety programmes.