Posted on 07/28/2006 5:19:24 PM PDT by annie laurie
A dead supermarket chicken could save you up to $200.
A Christchurch woman has revealed a loophole in car registration rules. The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, says it normally costs more than $260 to register her diesel vehicle.
However if a driver goes to the Post Shop and asks them to change the vehicle's registration to a code 06, which is for a non-commercial hearse, then the cost drops dramatically - to just $58.
Her friends told her the scam had been going on for years, so she went to a Post Shop to try it.
She told the man behind the counter her car was a non-commercial hearse because she carried dead chickens home from the supermarket.
He said that was fine, stamped her $58 registration - and told her there are a lot of non-commercial hearses driving around the affluent Christchurch suburb of Merivale.
However, perhaps not surprisingly, Land Transport New Zealand is not amused. It says people who are classing their cars as non-commercial hearses to save on their registration are breaking the law.
LTNZ spokesman, Andy Knackstead, says effectively, people are ripping off ACC, accident victims, and the rest of the population who are paying the correct levies, which he says is not something to be particularly proud of.
Mr Knackstead says if they discover it is a widespread scam they may consider bringing in the police.
I just KNEW those New Zelanders were up to no good!
I though they only screwed around with sheep!
NZ ping :)
> I though they only screwed around with sheep!
That's unkind.
Forgive my attempt at NZ humor.
> Forgive my attempt at NZ humor.
No worries, mate. The sad thing is, this stuff goes on... amongst the law-abiding of our NZ citizenry.
It would stun you to know how many folk drive around with unregistered cars, and/or without drivers licences, (or worse yet on multiply-suspended driver's licenses due to DUI), uninsured, with thousands of dollars in unpaid fines, and in contraptions that were never once roadworthy.
This particular scam with the chicken hearse is small potatoes.
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