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Warrants and certifications

All vehicles must meet a range of safety and other requirements before you can legally drive them on New Zealand roads. Some requirements have to be met before a vehicle can be registered on entering the country. Others requirements, like warrants and certificates of fitness inspection, apply once a vehicle is in use to regularly check its ongoing road worthiness. This section explains the different requirements and the steps to take to meet them.

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Your vehicle failed a warrant?
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Getting a warrant of fitness

Before your car, motorcycle, van or ute can get a warrant of fitness, it must undergo an inspection to ensure it's safe to drive.
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Entry certification for imported vehicles

Whether you're importing a used vehicle for your own use or to sell, you need an inspection that verifies it's safe to use on New Zealand roads.
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Modifying heavy vehicles

Many imported heavy vehicles need modifying before you can drive them on New Zealand roads. But only certain engineers can undertake significant modifications.
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Getting an alternative fuel certificate

Vehicles using alterative fuels like LPG and CNG have to meet additional inspection requirements before they're used, and then annually once in use.
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Getting a certificate of fitness

Heavy vehicles, rental vehicles and those used to carry passengers commercially need to pass regular inspections and meet other 'fitness' requirements.
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Modifying your vehicle

You can modify, customise or retune your car, motorcycle, van or ute, but you can't make any changes that significantly increase the road safety risk - to you or others.
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Getting repair certification for an import

If your vehicle requires repair when it arrives in New Zealand, or already has had repairs undertaken, you may need repair certification.
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eVIRM project

NZTA’s Vehicles Unit is planning to stop printing all its Vehicle Inspection Requirements Manuals (VIRMs) and other related documents such as newsletters and Performance Review System (PRS) manuals by mid-2012 and make them available in electronic format only.
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