Inspection and certification process

3-3 Establishing whether the vehicle requires a WoF or CoF


The lists below show the type of inspection and certification (WoF or CoF) that is required for the different types of vehicles.

3.3.1 Certificate of Fitness (CoF) (Note 1)

A CoF is required for the following vehicles:

  • Heavy vehicles, other than those listed under WoF below.
  • Passenger service vehicles (including MD2 vehicles), other than those listed under WoF below.
  • Rental service vehicles (except light rental trailers – these only require a WoF).
  • Vehicle recovery service vehicles.
3.3.2 Warrant of Fitness (WoF)

A WoF is required for the following vehicles:

1. Vehicles that are not listed under certificate of fitness (section 3.3.1) or that are not listed as a vehicle not requiring a WoF or CoF (section 3.3.3).

2. Tractors (other than agricultural tractors), or machines used solely in non-agricultural, land management or roading operations, whether for traction or otherwise, that are operated at a speed exceeding 30km/h.

3. Class MA, MB or MC vehicles that, in the carriage of passengers for hire or reward:

a) are used solely for transporting not more than seven schoolchildren, and

b) do not exceed the designed adult passenger capacity of the vehicle by more than two schoolchildren.

4. Vehicles that are lawfully affixed with and operated under the authority of trade plates.

5. Vehicles used by the New Zealand Defence Force that are being used to convey persons who would otherwise use public transport during a period in which any public transport in New Zealand is suspended.

6. Motor caravans that:

a) have an original manufacturer’s rating of 3750kg or less, and

b) were registered in New Zealand as motor caravans before 1 January 1992.

7. Vehicles that are used on a public highway only in connection with the inspection, servicing or repair of the vehicle or for the purpose of allowing any person to sit a practical driving test in that vehicle.

8. Vehicles used on roads only in road construction zones in accordance with notices declaring those zones.

9. Vehicles that are used on a road only when crossing or proceeding along a section of the road where the vehicles have been authorised to operate by an authorisation of a road-controlling authority that requires:

a) a written agreement by the vehicle’s operator or the person for whom the vehicle is being operated, to construct, reconstruct, maintain or restore to the satisfaction of the road-controlling authority all or part of the road used by the vehicle, and

b) the erection and maintenance of warning devices, signs or control devices as required by the road-controlling authority and the NZTA, and

c) where the use of the road does not consist solely of the direct crossing of the road, the prior approval of the NZTA.

10. Light rental trailers.

11. Motor vehicles designed exclusively or principally as part of the armament of the New Zealand Defence Force.

12. The vehicles listed in the table below - these vehicles require a WoF only as far as is practicable for their design or type:

a) vehicles propelled and supported solely by self-laying tracks

b) motor vehicles exclusively designed and used on a road for driving, carrying or propelling any of the following, which must be permanently attached to the vehicle:

i. aerodrome runway sweepers

ii. electrical substations

iii. filters for transformer oil

iv. log haulers that are stationary when hauling logs

v. aeroengine test benches

c) tractors owned by a local authority and used exclusively for the construction, maintenance or mowing of stopbanks and the banks of rivers, streams, drains, canals or other watercourses

d) mobile or movable huts, galleys or similar vehicles that are used on a road solely in connection with the construction or maintenance of roads

e) tractors used exclusively for shunting railway rolling stock

f) forklifts

g) aerodrome crash fire tenders that are used on a road only in emergencies

h) trailers while being drawn by a vehicle as stated in (b) to (g) above

i) motor vehicles used exclusively in connection with the embarking and disembarking of ships’ passengers or for loading and unloading ships’ mails, cargo and passengers’ baggage, and used on a public highway only when proceeding unladen from one wharf to another wharf or from their usual place of storage to a wharf and returning to that place of storage

j) cable jinkers

k) front-end loaders

l) log skidders

m) tractor cranes

n) rough-terrain cranes

o) mobile crushing and screening plant machines which are mounted on trailers

p) motor graders

q) motor scrapers

r) trailer scrapers

s) plant for servicing oil-filled cables

t) post debarkers

u) saw bench apparatus

v) forestry chippers (designed and used exclusively in the operation or management of a forest)

w) tree feller bunchers

x) trench diggers and excavators

y) vehicles that are always used unladen on the road and that are designed exclusively for carrying earth or other bulk materials

z) mobile concrete mixers that are mounted on tractors

aa) a vehicle that is similar in design, construction or purpose to a vehicle listed above that cannot be categorised by vehicle class.

bb) an agricultural motor vehicle that is operated at a speed exceeding 40km/h.
cc) all-terrain vehicles (other than those listed in 3.3.3 Vehicles that do not require a WoF or CoF).
3.3.3 Vehicles that do not require a WoF or CoF

The vehicles listed in the table below do not require a WoF or CoF:

a) a vehicle of class AB, LA or LB

b) an armoured vehicle used exclusively as equipment of the New Zealand Defence Force

c) a traction engine

d) a mechanically propelled roller

e) a crane fitted with self-laying tracks

f) an excavator fitted with self-laying tracks

g) a tractor (other than an agricultural tractor), or a machine used solely in non-agricultural, land management or roading operations, whether for traction or otherwise, that is not operated at a speed exceeding 30km/h, together with any trailer operated only while being towed by that tractor or machine

h) a trailer designed exclusively for agricultural purposes and not operated except when being:

i. delivered from a manufacturer to the manufacturer’s agent, or

ii. taken to or from an agricultural show for display or demonstration purposes, or

iii. delivered from a manufacturer or a manufacturer’s agent to a farm or an agricultural contractor

iv. proceeding to or from a farm, or

v. when being inspected, serviced or repaired.

i) a vehicle normally propelled by mechanical power while it is being temporarily towed without the use of its own power

j) an all-terrain vehicle used:

i. in moving from the operator’s place of residence to a road that is not a public highway, when the distance travelled is less than 3km, or

ii. in connection with its inspection, servicing or repair, or

iii. as an agricultural vehicle.

k) an agricultural motor vehicle that is operated at a speed not exceeding 40km/h.
Note 1

A vehicle that does not require inspection for regular use still does not need inspection if operated in a transport service (eg rental mopeds).

Page amended 1 November 2015 (see amendment details).

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