Cars too costly to fix

Press, 28 November 1980, Page 1

Cars too costly to fix

Some motorists are tearing up their warrant-of-fitness reject cards rather than face big carrepair bills. The chairman of the Joint Vehicle Testing Station at Sockburn, Mr D. A. Anderson, said yesterday that about three or four people a day tore up their reject cards at the station. •” ' “After seeing what is wrong with the car they tear up the card and don’t worry about a warrant or the $4.50 fee. There is not much we can do about it,” he said. The committee of the station, which • is . jointly ' run by the Riccarton B o, r o u g h , Waimairi County, and Paparua County councils, is concerned that people are prepared to drive cars without warrants. It was also worried about the hazard to road safety, said Mr Anderson. About TOO • cars a day are rejected at the station. This represents -■ between 35 and 38 per cent of cars inspected. ■ . , Mr Anderson said the problem had existed for

some time but had become more noticeabie in the last two or three months. “And ■it is getting worse,” he said. The chief vehicle inspector at the Tuam Street testing station, Mr E. A. Tully, said he was aware

■ that some motorists did f. not have their cars repaired after failing a war- ; rant test but he h;V not heard of anybody tearing up a reject card. t The maximum fine for driving a car without a > warrant of fitness is $2OO.