The free ride for drivers resitting their licence tests could be coming to an end.
On October 1, at the Labour Government’s directive, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) changed driver licence fees to an all-in-one fee for each stage of testing and the fees to resit a driver test, or to cancel or reschedule, were removed.
The intention was to help ease costs for people going through the driver licensing system. The Transport Minister at the time, Michael Wood, said the changes would save drivers on average $86 each and cumulatively save $5.5 million every year altogether.
But delays to practical test bookings have followed since the change. Average wait times for the week ending April 14 were 44 days for a full licence test throughout the country and 55 days for a restricted test.
The longest delays for a full test were 52 days in the Bay of Plenty, and 68 days in Wellington for a restricted test.
The issue is affecting all regions in New Zealand. As an example, at 10am on April 3 there were only 15 available spots nationwide for a full licence test and only 10 for a restricted licence test.
NZTA said most regions have improved over the year, but they do expect to keep seeing high demand. It said Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ) has now hired more driving instructors and had record-breaking testing numbers in March and April.
On January 8, NZTA introduced a 10 day stand-down period for learner driver tests after two failed attempts on the same day.
It says since Easter, learner test demands had dropped back to normal levels.
However, while average wait times for both restricted and full licence tests have also dropped in recent weeks, NZTA expects demand to be high for the remainder of the year.
It says that is due in part to demand for overseas licence conversions due to current immigration levels, more re-sits, and increasing numbers of people who have entered the system by getting their learner licence since October 2023.
The current Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, said the continued delays for the tests have been unacceptable.
Both the Automobile Association (AA) and VTNZ attended a meeting with Brown and were told that with some operational and legislative changes, there could be improvement by May.
Brown said he is talking with NZTA and the Ministry of Transport to deal with the issue, which he said could include reintroducing resitting fees.
VTNZ’s national technical manager for vehicle testing, Craig Basher, agreed reintroducing fees to re-sit tests would help but said VTNZ has been making changes to meet demand, including hiring more staff, opening up testing for the weekend and sending text reminders for upcoming tests.
Basher said a large factor of the delays has been the amount of people not showing up to tests, with 2000 no-shows for booked practical tests in the last month.
He has also received feedback that more drivers are turning up unprepared and with unfit cars, making simple mistakes and trying to rebook straight away without further practice.
Driving instructors have also noticed a shift since the introduction of free resits.
President of the New Zealand Institute of Driving Educators Mark Revill-Johnson thinks the change did have good intentions, but it has backfired massively.
According to instructors, more people are unfazed when failing tests, with some regarding it as a “free lesson”. He said this has been affecting business for professional instructors providing lessons across the country.
Revill-Johnson urges drivers to see lessons as an investment into their future safety and says that resitting tests over and over again is not the answer.