ACC Minister Nikki Kaye has welcomed the publication of details about risk rating, which will see car owners pay much lower and fairer levies from 1 July.

“Information is now available on ACC’s website, so car owners can see what levy they’ll pay for a specific vehicle.

“A tool will also be available on the rightcar website in the near future, which will let you key in your registration number and see what levy you will pay.”

Under risk rating, cars are grouped into four levy bands, and levies are based on how safe a car is in a crash.

“The information online will let car owners see what band their vehicle is in, as well as the reduced annual licence levy they will pay from 1 July.

“Some people may be surprised by the risk rating of their vehicle. The new system will give people greater awareness of safer vehicles, which they may wish to take into account when buying a car.

“To give an example of the savings under risk rating, owners of petrol cars currently pay an ACC levy of around $198.  This will drop to $158 for less safe vehicles, and fall dramatically to $68 for the safest cars.

“Around 85% of cars will be risk rated using a robust system developed by Monash University, based on data collected from over 5.5 million real life crashes reported to police in Australia and New Zealand since 1987.

“Newer cars present a challenge because less crash data is available, so these cars will be risk rated based on simulated crash testing.

“It’s not just owners of new cars who will benefit from risk rating. There are many car models more than 10 years old in the safest levy band.  And all car owners pay reduced levies from 1 July.

“ACC has come a long way in the last five years. The government, alongside ACC, has ensured good financial management of the scheme, and this along with reduced road accidents has made these levy cuts possible.

“New Zealanders will save around $438 million as a result of motor vehicle levy cuts from 1 July 2015.”

More information about risk rating, including the new levy bands from 1 July, is available here.