Failed my WOF on a 3 yr old car

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Failed my WOF on a 3 yr old car

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#3038056 17-Feb-2023 10:55

Bung: A few years ago Wellington's parking enforcement tried a camera car that could just drive around taking photos of cars on yellow lines, on footpaths, double parked etc and produce tickets by the score. That experiment didn't last long. The opposition to rigid enforcement became a local political problem for the councillors. No regime is perfect, most need some flexibility to be accepted.

Automated parking enforcement is becoming more common, the reality is this is where things are heading, and fast. ANPR cameras are being widely used by many local authorities.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

nickb800

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#3038115 17-Feb-2023 11:22

Bung: A few years ago Wellington's parking enforcement tried a camera car that could just drive around taking photos of cars on yellow lines, on footpaths, double parked etc and produce tickets by the score. That experiment didn't last long. The opposition to rigid enforcement became a local political problem for the councillors. No regime is perfect, most need some flexibility to be accepted.

It's a shame there wasn't the political will to define and pursue infringements which shouldn't be subject to discretion/flexibility because the spy car was very good at identifying fleeting infringements like double parking, as well as all-round efficiency.

When it comes to school pickup/dropoffs, parking on yellow lines or double parking, especially in the vicinity of a pedestrian crossing is just so dangerous there should be no discretion. Personally I think parking on footpaths should be subject to hardline enforcement too, but I suspect that may not have broad political support.

Bung

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#3038126 17-Feb-2023 11:58

nickb800:
It's a shame there wasn't the political will to define and pursue infringements which shouldn't be subject to discretion/flexibility because the spy car was very good at identifying fleeting infringements like double parking, as well as all-round efficiency.

If it is fleeting how big a deal is double parking? You could have everyone transferring to taxis on the outskirts of town and then those taxis have an exemption to double park if necessary to pick-up/set down passengers because without it they couldn't operate. From memory the camera car was fining drivers who were forced to stop because the traffic in front of them wasn't moving. There was a lack of intelligence in the way it was operated.

richms

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#3038130 17-Feb-2023 12:04

More urban areas need to have loading zones for the goods vehicles that service them like couriers and uber eats etc so that there is less of an issue with double parking for people that do it because they have to. Permanent storage of disused cars is the problem so perhaps all kerbside parking needs to have a timelimit of a couple of days applied to it.

Richard rich.ms

nickb800

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#3038140 17-Feb-2023 13:22

Bung:
nickb800:

It's a shame there wasn't the political will to define and pursue infringements which shouldn't be subject to discretion/flexibility because the spy car was very good at identifying fleeting infringements like double parking, as well as all-round efficiency.

If it is fleeting how big a deal is double parking? You could have everyone transferring to taxis on the outskirts of town and then those taxis have an exemption to double park if necessary to pick-up/set down passengers because without it they couldn't operate. From memory the camera car was fining drivers who were forced to stop because the traffic in front of them wasn't moving. There was a lack of intelligence in the way it was operated.

Double parking blocks sight lines for pedestrians crossing the road, and following cars have to go around on the wrong side of the road in areas where other drivers/cyclists/pedestrians aren't expecting passing vehicle. In general, and specifically around school pickups it raises the risk of collisions/accidents. More generally I'd make the distinction that double parking is on another level compared to, say, parking for 61 minutes in P60 type of infringement.

If the spycar was incorrectly identifying infringements, then of course that's not on. But I wouldn't support discretion on any correctly identified infringement which has a safety element. Take your point that double parking could be hard to positively ID from a moving vehicle.

frankv

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#3038155 17-Feb-2023 13:45

networkn:

For the insurance company not to pay out they would need to prove the failure was directly related to the failure. If you drove into a tree drunk, they would not be able to use WOF failure on handbrake to refuse coverage.

Well no, they don't need to prove anything. They can decline to pay out, and then it may be up to *you* to prove that the loss was not related to the failure. I guess that's easy enough if you drove into a tree drunk, but even so could take months to resolve. If the insurance company decided they had reasonable grounds and to take it to court, it could be years.

lxsw20

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#3038182 17-Feb-2023 14:58

Are you basing that on fact/experience, or just guessing?

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richms

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#3038186 17-Feb-2023 15:06

I know people that have had damage to their non woffed and in one case rego lapsed by a long time cars and their claims went thru fine as the wof failures were for silly little Napoleon issues that they had like headlights not being pretty enough or not retracting rear seat belts that are never used hence not retracting. I am sure if you had "excessively worn brake pads" and rear ended someone because you couldn't stop it would be a different story.

It seems that VTNZ etc have been instructed to be petty with old cars, I assume to drive the govts goal of getting them off the roads and that really is making lots of people get failures that are not real reasons for failing.

Richard rich.ms

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#3038190 17-Feb-2023 15:15

Getting back on Topic.

Well we picked up a loaner today - Suzuki Vitara with BlueTooth/Apple CarPlay which we insisted on. We have it till the EPB switch arrives. At least 6 weeks❓(🤣 - this loaners WOF runs out on 23rd March)

Spoke to one of the office service mech's and yes it is a known issue and they, Tauranga branch, have "had to replace a few" of them on fault.

Not good really as Kia should be acting proactively on this and doing a recall IMO ‼️

Thanks to @Bung for that UK website. I managed to refine the search down to the Sportage - https://www.kiaownersclub.co.uk/threads/sportage-electric-handbrake-design-fault.67705/.

One posting dated 7th Aug 2022 stated: "it was a known issue and a revised new part was available."

The very next post, 7th Aug 2022, states: "Latest update is that there are about 400 switches being flown and boated in at the moment."

Having a quick look at these Kia UK forums, it is just not only the Sportage but several other models as well.

SOOOO I wonder how many are being ordered by Kia NZ, hopefully my Sportage being a Nov 2019 manufacture, will receive the "revised new part"⁉️

We shall see.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

mdooher

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#3038192 17-Feb-2023 15:16

He is guessing.. there is case law on this. NZLII is on a go slow at the moment, but if you look up the case it was very clear. The lack of WOF can't be used as an excuse not to pay out. However if the loss was caused by an actual fault that would have ,or was detected by the WOF inspection then that is a different story

Matthew

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#3038195 17-Feb-2023 15:22

frankv:
networkn:

For the insurance company not to pay out they would need to prove the failure was directly related to the failure. If you drove into a tree drunk, they would not be able to use WOF failure on handbrake to refuse coverage.

Well no, they don't need to prove anything. They can decline to pay out, and then it may be up to *you* to prove that the loss was not related to the failure. I guess that's easy enough if you drove into a tree drunk, but even so could take months to resolve. If the insurance company decided they had reasonable grounds and to take it to court, it could be years.

Fortunately most insurance companies aren’t stupid. Going to court is incredibly expensive for them and they try to avoid it.

As referenced earlier the insurance law reform act is clear on this.

networkn

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#3038559 18-Feb-2023 12:23

frankv:

Well no, they don't need to prove anything. They can decline to pay out, and then it may be up to *you* to prove that the loss was not related to the failure. I guess that's easy enough if you drove into a tree drunk, but even so could take months to resolve. If the insurance company decided they had reasonable grounds and to take it to court, it could be years.

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. The insurance company may resist, but ultimately, they know what's what. They would lose in court, it would become public, there is no win scenario for them in this.

A lot of declined claims rely on the fact that people are relatively passive or inclined to trust large organizations, or generally can't be bothered fighting. That doesn't mean the insurance company was right.

I wish more people fought, and I wish that insurance companies who misrepresented their agreements were heavily punished. You'd find behaviour changing very quickly if a few insurance companies CEO's spent a year in prison for incorrectly declining a valid claim.

Financial penalties rarely are effective as they aren't large enough to hurt significantly.

networkn

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#3038566 18-Feb-2023 12:29

Brakes are an essential part of a car, though I've never used my park/handbrake as primary or auxiliary braking in an emergency stop.

Having said that, I 100% would be making this my dealer's issue to fix. Loan me a car, or pay for a rental. It's not my problem you don't have the parts to fix my car and it's affecting my legal right to drive it.

Not related to a WOF failure, but an important engine component failed in one of my previous car and estimate was 6 weeks to get it, during which time I could not drive it. The part was available ex Germany. I asked for a loan, they refused, I asked for a meeting with the GM and let him know I was renting a car and sending him the bill, they opted to Fedex the part which took 2 days and cost them $150, much less than a rental car for a week. I was polite, but I was firm in my position.

networkn

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#3038567 18-Feb-2023 12:31

There is a prescribed mechanism for disputes with Insurance companies, it would go before the ombudsman/mediation well before court. It would have to be pretty murky ground for it to make it anywhere near a judge.

Bung

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#3038613 18-Feb-2023 16:19

networkn:
Brakes are an essential part of a car, though I've never used my park/handbrake as primary or auxiliary braking in an emergency stop.

On an older car the test for handbrake includes a balance requirement as it could be used as last resort while moving. On a modern car with split circuit brakes it is much less likely that there wouldn't be enough foot brake to stop. The hand brake is then regarded as a parking brake an the test is just has to hold on slope.

You should try stopping using just the handbrake and see how ineffectual it is. Disc brakes with no assist are not as good as older drum brakes used to be.

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