Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Land Transport Act 1998

Motor vehicle registration and licensing - Change of registered person on sale or other disposition

248: Prohibition against use of motor vehicle

You could also call this:

“You can't drive an unregistered car on the road”

If you’re driving a car on the road, a police officer or parking warden might stop you if they think you’ve broken a rule they’re responsible for enforcing. They can do this even if the rule isn’t part of this specific law.

If they stop you, and they believe the car isn’t registered correctly (meaning the owner’s name or address isn’t up to date in the registration), they can give you or the owner a notice. If no one is there, they can put the notice on the car.

This notice tells you to take the car off the road right away. You’re not allowed to drive it on the road until the registration is fixed.

The notice doesn’t start working straight away. It begins at 11:59 pm on the next working day after you get it. But if you update the registration before then, the notice won’t take effect.

Once the notice is working, you can’t drive the car on the road until you’ve registered it with the correct name and address of the owner.

If more than one person owns the car, any of those people can be considered ‘the owner’ for this rule.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3701440.

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247: Obligations of sellers and acquirers of motor vehicles, or

"Rules for telling the government when you sell or get a car"

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249: Circumstances when motor vehicle may be seized and impounded, or

"When police can take your car if you drive when you're not allowed to"

Part 17 Motor vehicle registration and licensing
Change of registered person on sale or other disposition

248Prohibition against use of motor vehicle

  1. This section applies if an enforcement officer or a parking warden believes on reasonable grounds that—

  2. a person driving a motor vehicle on a road has committed an offence in relation to which an officer or warden has enforcement powers under this Act or another enactment; and
    1. the motor vehicle is not registered under this Part in the name of the current owner of the motor vehicle or with the current address of that person.

      1. The enforcement officer or parking warden may give to the driver or owner of the motor vehicle, if present, or affix or cause to be affixed to the motor vehicle, a notice in the form approved by the Registrar for the purpose directing that the motor vehicle—

      2. be removed from the road immediately; and
        1. not be driven on a road for as long as the notice is in force in accordance with subsection (3).

          1. A notice given under subsection (2)—

          2. comes into effect at 11.59 pm on the working day after the day when the notice is issued (unless the name and current address of the owner are registered before that time); and
            1. remains in force until the motor vehicle has been registered in the name and current address of the owner.

              1. Where more than 1 person owns a motor vehicle, reference in this section to the owner is to any 1 of those persons.

              Notes
              • Section 248: inserted, on , by section 32(7) of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 17).