Data released to the Otago Daily Times under the Official Information Act from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) revealed an 18% rise in the number of passenger cars in Otago with lapsed registrations in the two years to December 2022.
The figures have risen each month and a similar trend is apparent across the country, with a 16% rise nationally and in Southland.
When the ODT went to check cars in Gladstone Rd, North Dunedin, yesterday, six out of the 21 cars parked in the road were displaying expired registration labels.
Automobile Association Otago district council chairman Malcolm Budd said having so many unlicensed cars on the road was outrageous.
He believed that "a good percentage" of the unregistered cars were unlikely to have a warrant of fitness, which was a major safety issue.
By law, vehicles needed to have a warrant of fitness before they could be licensed.
Money from vehicle licensing was spent on road maintenance, so if people were not registering their cars there was less to spend on repairs.
The issue was also one of fairness.
"If everybody had the same attitude we’d get nowhere," Mr Budd said.
He believed a lack of enforcement was to blame.
He thought as police were not keeping up to date with roadside breath testing or speeding enforcement, they were likely not finding lapsed registrations as often.
He had filed written parliamentary questions which showed there was $8.3 million in outstanding vehicle registration fees as of the end of last year, Mr Brown said.
Insurance Council of New Zealand spokesman Christian Judge said people deliberately driving an unsafe or unroadworthy vehicle could invalidate any insurance they had if they were involved in an accident.
Anyone with a comprehensive vehicle policy would be covered in the event of a collision with another vehicle that was unregistered or uninsured.
The insurance company could try to recover the cost of the claim from any uninsured party, Mr Judge said.
An NZTA spokesman said it did not have a view on the factors which might be behind the trend.
Enforcement of the requirement for vehicles to be registered while on the road was carried out by police as well as by local authorities, and lapsed vehicles could be ticketed by parking wardens.
Revenue from vehicle licensing fees accounted for less than 3% of each three-year National Land Transport Programme fund — which was $690 million out of $24.3 billion in the present cycle.
A Dunedin City Council spokesman said its parking officers continued to actively enforce the rules governing lapsed vehicle registrations across the city.
Officers would issue infringement notices if they observed a vehicle with a lapsed registration as well as attend when complaints were made, the spokesman said.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said the responsibility to ensure a vehicle was registered sat with the vehicle’s owner.
"I have not received any advice on what factors may influence a vehicle owner’s decision to allow their registration to lapse," he said.
It was important all road users contributed towards the upkeep of roads, and for many this was through vehicle licensing, Mr Wood said.
A police spokeswoman said the primary focus of road policing was on restraints, impairment, distraction and speed, which were all known to contribute to death and serious injury.
Police staff often had the discretion to offer a two-week compliance window to those they caught with lapsed registrations, she said.
Last year, 91% of eligible vehicle registration offences were offered it.
Police had worked hard to increase the number of breath tests done and in the 12 months to the end of February more than 2.5million breath tests were carried out, the spokeswoman said.
Police Minister Ginny Andersen referred a request for comment to Mr Wood and the police commissioner.
