If you’re thinking about importing a late-model left-hand-drive vehicle, here’s some essential information to help with your decision.

NZV8 readers may recall hearing about moves to ease the restrictions on importing late-model left-hand-drive (LHD) cars. After six years of campaigning by enthusiasts, those rules have changed at last. The result is that it is now a lot easier for lovers of modern American muscle cars and the like to import them.

The change is part of an amended Steering Systems Rule, which previously required people to either own the car overseas for 90 days or convert it to right-hand-drive (RHD). Those rules have now gone, and in their place are new criteria tailored specifically for car enthusiasts.

The new criteria come under the definition of Special Interest Vehicle (SIV), a vehicle category first introduced by the NZ Transport Agency in 2008. For most people the changes mean they no longer have to contemplate spending time overseas or an expensive conversion to RHD.

The creation of the SIV category is a windfall for those of us who cherish modern enthusiast, sports or unusual cars, and a major win for industry groups like the Left Hand Drive Enthusiasts Federation, Federation of Motoring Clubs, and others who have lobbied long and hard for it. (more…)