Ask an expert

I have had a Ralliart spoiler kit on my Mitsubishi Lancer MX for many years and have never had a problem getting a Warrant of Fitness with regard to this kit until recently.

The car failed its WoF inspection due to the rear overlay being illegal as it came down 200mm from the top of the car instead of 100mm or less.

As I had never had this problem before I asked if this was a new law and the WoF inspector replied that the rules had not changes and I had just "got away with it" until now.

I cannot believe Mitsubishi Ralliart would install illegal overlays onto cars, so would you please tell me if this is the case.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated as I would prefer to keep my car as it is.

Liz

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 14 December 2009

There are cases where the WoF inspectors are told to look closer at certain items which may have escaped rejection in the past.

One such item was corrosion some years ago where motorists were being told their vehicles had major issues after passing Warrants for years with no problems.

I will post your experience on the web site for others who may suffer the same or similar issues in the future.

Ralliart NZ state the following;

We believe there has either been a law change or a focus on windscreen banner enforcement. We have had to change the size of our banners on our Rally cars to be legal. You may have to remove the sticker to comply.

Answer from NZTA (formerly LTNZ);

No there hasn't been a recent law change, but this was one of the areas that we had clarified earlier this year and it was introduced to our WOF refresher training in the first half of this year.