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Introducing the Special Interest Vehicle Association of New Zealand

While at the CRC Speedshow in July 2019, we were introduced to the team at the Special Interest Vehicle Association of New Zealand (SIVANZ) stand. We thought you might be interested in finding out a bit more about SIVANZ and what they’re doing on behalf of their members to keep our classic and enthusiast cars on the road, so we asked Andrew Ferrier-Kerr to write a short piece on what they are about.

SIVANZ Speedshow stand.jpg

From Andrew:  SIVANZ is a lobby group that provides a special interest vehicle (SIV) owners perspective on government proposals that have potential to affect how we use our cars. The Productivity report (2018) and more recently the Clean Car Standard discussion paper are two of several proposals that have been presented by the Government for public review and comment. The reduction of vehicle emissions, and therefore fossil fuelled vehicles, are one of the focus areas for NZ in order to achieve CO2 reductions as agreed in the Paris Accord.

SIVANZ was born because we wanted to have a voice, and, we couldn’t stand by and be pushed off the roads through our silence. Two years ago we came the realisation that SIV owners seemed to be invisible to officials proposing new policy and no one was advocating on our behalf to keep our cars on the road, particularly in the face of increasing negative comments about fossil fuelled vehicles.

Many of our vehicles are included in the “aged fleet” description. There is a repeating commentary from a number of sources that refer to the aged fleet as a problem source of emissions that should be removed from our roads. It not necessarily our cars that are being targeted but they will likely be included in any ‘blanket’ policies relating to the aged fleet. The Productivity report (2018) and the Clean Car Standard discussion paper have examples of the type of language used to promote low emissions vehicles (EV’s particularly) and at the same time denigrate fossil fuelled vehicles; “Goodies and Baddies” is a term that has been used to describe low emission/ EV vehicle owners and fossil fuel vehicle owners. “Dirty” vehicles is another term that has been used and if you happen to own or work in an automotive business that involves fossil fuelled vehicles at any level, you have been labelled a “Dirty Business” in the Productivity Report (2018).

We all have a role to play in emissions reduction globally, but it is this type of commentary that SIVANZ wants to counter and to also set SIV’s apart from the rest of the fleet.

For context, our vehicles are included in the “Aged Fleet” description. There are approximately 4,000,000 vehicles on NZ roads. By our calculation SIV’s are approximately 8% (300,000) of the aged fleet and generally speaking we keep our cars in the best possible condition when the year of manufacture and available technology from that time is considered. We also acknowledge that some of the aged fleet is in poor condition and we collectively need to address that. We don’t believe SIV’s are in this category.

Our view is that if some of the government proposals are enacted, SIV owners are likely to face some type of restriction or constriction on how we are permitted to use our vehicles. Consider what this might do to the value of your car? If you are not able to use it as you do now, will that affect its value? Will it be as easy to sell?

Linked to individual SIV owners are the related businesses that support our industry. The panel beaters, the car polish seller, the glazier, painter, tyre guy, upholsterer, fabricators, insurance providers… all rely on us to provide a steady stream of business. If our car use is restricted in some way, we may not need as much work from our industry groups. There isn’t a lot of information readily available, but we have calculated that the value of SIV’s in our garages and collections is approximately $5Bn and our SIV industry is a $4Bn contributor to the NZ economy. It’s all worth fighting for.

We have some challenges ahead as SIV owners and SIVANZ is determined to give its members a voice.

If you don’t belong to an organisation, then I would urge you to identify one that suits you and join up, but make sure that they are proactive with your best interests driving them. The more people that we have speaking up the more visible we become.

SIVANZ in a nutshell;

- We are a lobby group determined to keep our SIV’s on the road
- Visit our web site to see what we do and read the submissions made to government to date; www.sivanz.co.nz;
- We accept individuals as members. The only national organisation to do this.
- There are no vehicle type restrictions.
- You decide if your car is a SIV or not.
- Special Interest Vehicle Manufacturers and Suppliers (SIVMAS) is the industry sub group of SIVANZ.
    - We have the first ever SIV industry forum in the planning stage for April / May 2020
    - We surveyed the SIV industry in May 2019. The first ever SIV industry survey conducted. Results are due out soon to participating businesses.
- We want to make your voice count.

Email us if you have any questions contact@sivanz.co.nz

Thank you Protecta Insurance for introducing SIVANZ to your customers and the opportunity to provide some back ground about us in this newsletter.

Andrew.

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