Dealers set, Govt not

Press, 22 October 1976, Page 2

Dealers set, Govt not

;PA Hamilton ; Disputes tribunals to rule ■on disagreements between used car dealers and their customers still have not been appointed by the Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) — even though the' ■Used-car warranty scheme! has been going three | months. The Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, which provides for the •tribunals, came into force in .February, provision for the licensing of dealers and salesmen started from April 1, and the consumer protec-! (ion warranties coveredmost used car sales from! July 1. Inquiries have revealed that nominations for posi-j tions on the tribunal from, the Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute and from other groups have been in the hands of the Ministry of Justice for several months. However, Mr Thomson has yet to name the tribunal. The delay has caused 1 -

some embarrassment to the institute, which this week 1 began distributing 800,JOO ; booklets outlining the act’s provisions. Part of the booklet reads: — “To make sure that your . consumer rights are upheld, la ‘disputes tribunal’ has 'been established, in order to sort out unresolved disagreements which may arise between you and the licensed mot_ vehicle dealer from whom you buy or sell a car.” The executive director of I the institute (Mr C. F. -Stone) said from Wellington i this week that the booklets j had to be printed well in advance. I “Never in our wildest i dreams did we think the Government machine would take so long to grind on,” he said. “Only on Tuesday I arranged for a case in dispute to be referred to a tribunal I— when it is established.”

Mr Thomson was not available yesterday to comment on the delay, ■ but a spokesman for his office said that Ministry officials hoped to provide him with the necessary papers “shortly.” Some nominees for positions on the tribunal had taken a long time to reply to correspondence from the Ministry, said the spokesman. “The Minister hopes to be able to finalise the appointments in the very near future — hopefully by the end of this month,” he said. Fewer N.A.C. pa®sengers National Airways passenger traffic so far this year is 1.8 per cent behind last year's level, according to the corporation’s general manager (Mr D. A. Patterson). The decline is mainly a result of the economic situation, he says. —( P.A.)