Paying levies if you own or drive a vehicle

How you pay the Motor Vehicle levy

You pay the Motor Vehicle levy in two different ways:

• petrol at the pump – currently at 6 cents per litre
• as part of your vehicle licence (rego) fee.

For non-petrol vehicles, eg diesel, you pay your whole levy through your rego.

Paying levies on petrol and diesel

Petrol vehicles

If your vehicle runs on petrol, you’ll pay part of your Motor Vehicle levy when you fill up at the pump. The current petrol levy rate is 6 cents per litre.

Why you pay levies on petrol

Paying part of your Motor Vehicle levy at the pump is one way we try to make it fairer for everyone on the road:

• the more you drive, the more at risk you are of an accident, and so the more you pay
• if you own many vehicles, you only pay part of the levy based on how much you use each one
• vehicles without a rego make up almost 2% of vehicles on our roads. Petrol levies make sure they’re still paying towards the cost of injuries.

Diesel vehicles

You pay your entire Motor Vehicle levy when you register your diesel vehicle. You won’t pay any other levies when you buy diesel.

We do this because diesel powers more than just road vehicles, eg boats and farm vehicles. So it isn’t appropriate for us to add a levy at the diesel pump.

Hybrid vehicles

Hybrid vehicles still need some petrol to run. So the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) classes them as ‘petrol’. This means you’ll pay your Motor Vehicle levy both at the pump and in your rego.

Hybrid vehicles are more fuel efficient than petrol vehicles. You won’t pay as much through the petrol levy.

Electric vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) run off an externally charged battery. We class these as petrol vehicles.

Paying levies as part of your vehicle rego

The levy on your rego depends on how much risk you're exposed to by travelling in your vehicle.

Cars and light passenger vehicles

We break down the classification of vehicles into petrol and non-petrol.

Current levy rates for light passenger vehicle bands (excluding GST)

Vehicle type	Current levy rate
Petrol	$42.09
Non-petrol only	$101.12

You may have noticed the ACC component of your rego reminder notice is different to last year. This is because the Government in 2019 decided to remove the vehicle risk rating (VRR) component of the ACC motor vehicle levy.
Vehicle Risk Rating (VRR) removed from ACC motor vehicle levy news article

Mopeds, scooters and motorcycles

The current moped, scooter and motorcycle rego fee levy rates are:

Vehicle class	Petrol	Non-petrol
Mopeds and scooters	$124.33	$137.95
Motorcycles (600cc or less)	$322.91	$336.53
Motorcycles (over 600cc)	$422.18	$435.80

$25 from these rates goes toward funding motorcycle safety initiatives.

How we set moped, scooter and motorcycle rego levies

We base our moped, scooter and motorcycle levies on crash data from the Ministry of Transport. The data shows that:

• motorcycling is riskier than travelling in other types of vehicles
• the cost of treating injuries from motorcycle accidents is higher than other injuries
• there’s a strong link between engine size and the cost of an injury.

The current motorcycle levies cover less than 22% of the full cost of motorcycle injuries. Other Motor Vehicle levies pay for the rest of the cost.

We use motorcycle crash data from the Ministry of Transport.

Latest motorcycle crash data on the Ministry of Transport website.

Goods service vehicles (GSVs)

A goods service vehicle is when its main use is to carry goods. NZTA decides if a vehicle is a GSV when it’s first registered in New Zealand. The current rego fee levy rates for GSVs are:

Vehicle class	Petrol	Non-petrol
Light (weighing 3,500kg or less)	$73.71	$129.69
Heavy (not in ACC Fleet Saver)	$243.45	$260.93

How we set GSV rego levies

There is no TSSI crash data for GSVs, so we base their rego levies on weight.

Vintage vehicles

A vehicle is vintage if it’s 40 years or over. The current rego fee levy rates for vintage vehicles are:

Vehicle class	Petrol	Non-petrol
Class 3 and 7	$22.33	$55.67

Contact us

If you have a question about your Motor Vehicle levy, contact our business team.

Phone 0800 222 776 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm)
Email business@acc.co.nz

If you have a question about your vehicle classification, contact the NZTA.

Phone 0800 108 809
Email info@nzta.govt.nz