ACC's new safety-related tier system for annual car licensing, which is supposed to give discounted ACC levies to owners of safer vehicles, does the exact opposite in some cases, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.
Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an active road safety campaigner, says:
"Whoever prepared this list of ACC levies appears to have been on drugs. For example, the petrol-powered 2001-2011 NIssan Caravan gets a reduced levy of just $68.46 per year.
This is a vehicle that had one of the worst results ever in Australian crash tests.
Yet, the more recent version of the Caravan, which presumably has far better safety, has a levy of $158.46.
What is even more astonishing is that ACC recommends people avoid this vehicle.
Similarly, the 2005-2011 petrol-powered Nissan Navara carries a levy of $68.46, with a three-star safety rating.
However, the 2012-Current Nissan Navara petrol carries a levy of $103.46, despite having a four-star safety rating.
Even more strangely, the Toyota Avensis, which has a five star crash test rating, is given the same levy as some death-trap models.
Matthew-Wilson adds:
"The whole ACC rating scheme was flawed from the start: even its fans admit it won't make any difference to the cars people buy. However, the scoring system for many vehicles appears to be even more daft than the scheme itself.
I call on the government to scrap the whole scheme and start again."
