nero

As petrol (gas) is so expensive would a diesel car be a better option?

Is diesel cheaper (I know it is in the UK)?

Are diesel cars more expensive to service maintain than a petrol run car?

Are diesel cars freely available in NZ and are they more expensive to buy?

Sorry for all of the questions but I am no expert on the car front and any thoughts would be much appreciated.

P2L

Diesels are quite common over here & yes fuel is cheaper, however you have to buy 'miles' for a diesel car. Sorry can't remember the cost of it and how many kms you are covered for at a time but someone will be along soon...........

nero

Sorry to be thick but what do you mean by you have to buy miles

Colin in the middle

http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/

Thats a good place to start to understand.

Diesel is cheaper because in New Zealand we dont have tax Free Red Diesel as used by agricultural motors/ Generators and thinks that basically dont use the road. Basically diesel sits around 40c per litre cheaper than petrol although that can vary.

However like has been said you buy whats called a Road User Charge which is basically Tax on the kms your going to use in addition to normal Road Tax called registration.

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/factsheets/38.html

Gives you the information.

I have owned a diesel van and to be honest the savings were out stripped by the extra maintenance because they have lowered the sulphur level in diesel and a lot of Vhiecles are experiancing leakage. One advamtage if you have access to a chippy you could use chip oil

nero

Thanks Colin that helps alot

Colin in the middle

You wait until you have to convert your driving licence then the fun really starts if you want to drive more than a car

nero

Oh - I was hoping to convert both my car and motorbike licence. I had thought that I would just have to do the theory test - am I wrong

Colin in the middle

Have you got group CE1 on your licence? Should have if you passed pre 1997?

If so then when you do your conversion also apply for group Class 2 licence, what you will get will be a Full licence to drive up to 18500kg, the catch is you will have to have a supervisor with class 2 with you to drive anything over 4500kg. Weird situation because technically you have a Full licence but treated like a learner for any Heavy Transport untill you sit a practical test which is just a case of a drive around the block in a small Truck.

Dumb thing is the truck I drove was smaller than the 7.5 tonnes I used to drive in the UK but I can drive Trucks bigger than I could in the UK on the NZ Licence

I am telling you this because having a class 2 could come in useful when moving house, has some job advantages as well. Took me a few years to realise this mistake on my licence.

PaulGent

Hi Nero
You have up to 12 months before you have to concert your UK licence to a NZ liucence. To dothe conversion you have to do a theory test only - no practical test. BUT you do have to do a theory test from both your car licence and your bike licence. It is ll pretty ovious. When you get here buy a road code for cars and a road code for motorbikes, read them and memorise them then go along and do your scrtachy test and pay you money and off you go!

For a class 2 (rigid truck up to 18 tonnes and up to 3 axles) you have to do a theory test (again!) and then do a practical assessment with an evaluator. You also have to pass some NZQA units in truck usage and driving hours. You have to have a NZ class 1 (car) licence for at least 3 months before you can do your class 2 licence.

Hope this helps. There's more info on the LTSA website.

Paul

nero

Excellent - Thanks Paul

Colin in the middle

Paul sorry to correct you but the last part regarding class 2 conversions you are wrong!

I just recently went through this whole procedure after finding out that during the conversion from NZ paper to Photo Licence they did not transfer my Class 2 across. Reason I had a paper licence was I sat my theory in 1996 to gain a NZ Licence because of the job I was doing.

You do not have to wait at all providing you have held a UK car licence for more than 2 years and sat it prior to 1997. Once you done your practical it converts to a NZ Class 2 Full, with a provison you sit a practical Test so you no longer need to be supervised.

You do not have to sit any NZQA course however the conversion processs for anything bigger than a car is little understood by LTSA staff most of them in the call centre are Teenage Girls who have no driving experiance outside of New Zealand. However you do need to submit a medical (minor detail)

I spoke to 4 differant people before I got to speak ironically to a scottish woman who understood the whole system.

Put it in perspective two weeks ago I did my Class 2 theory conversion a week later I sat the practical drive which basically was a trip around the block, literally. On my license they put a condition until I did that assesment drive with it the date of issue was 01-04-1996 the date I did my original conversion for car. However they stuffed up and issued it as a learners licence so now I have to wait for another licence to be sent out.

Whats funny on the situation is had I not booked my practical assesment on the same day I passed the theory I would have automatically been sent a Full Licence and not had to do that drive because of a small glitch in the system.

The other thing is they recently changed the Rule regarding converting your licence, it was found that the original wording of 12 months after first arrival technically meant that any one visting the country after there first trip 12 months or longer before was classed as driving without a licence. Bit of a bummer if your hear for 4 weeks on holiday and come back the following year to do the same thing

Now its been changed to a period of 12 months or more in New Zealand you need to convert! Except that wording means you can go to Australia for the day (yes people do) and start the 12 month clock al over again

Like I said its a daft system and no wonder people get confused.

PaulGent

Hi Colin

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to getting a NZ class 2 licence not having held a truck licence at all in the UK. In UK I only had car and motorcycle licence in UK both of which I converted just by doing the NZ theory tests for both.

I guess it would be different if I had held a truck licence in the UK before coming out to NZ.

Paul

Colin in the middle

This is the bit you missed! If you passed your test prior to 1997 you can drive a truck up to 8500kg (7.5 tonne) on a CAR licence in the UK.
This converts to a Class 2 in New Zealand.

I never had a UK Truck Licence but I did drive small 7.5 tonne trucks and over here anything bigger than a Transit is classed as a Truck. Classic one is if you drive a Large 4wd and pull a full laden trailer you could exceed 4.5 tonne and thus be classed as driving a class 2. Its a weight thing!

Check you licences if you have group CE1 written on it then your entitled to a Class 2 so you might as well get it.

Irony is I passed my test in a Truck smaller than the 7.5 I used to.

mickey_d

Diesel's been more expensive than unleaded in the UK for ages now