A Land Transport New Zealand initiative
Frequently asked questions
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About Rightcar
What is Rightcar?
Rightcar is a website developed by Land Transport New Zealand that provides people with comprehensive searchable information about vehicles available on the New Zealand market. The website provides safety and environmental impact information for each vehicle. A six star rating system is used to evaluate fuel economy, driver safety, the safety of other road users, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and air pollution. The website also supplies information on the effects of car use and driving behaviour.
What is the aim of Rightcar?
Rightcar aims to supply potential car buyers with the decision-making tools to purchase better, safer vehicles. Rightcar is designed to help upgrade the national fleet and reduce the negative effect of cars on the environment.
Who do you expect will use the website?
The website is intended for use by potential vehicle buyers, the motor industry, vehicle dealers, manufacturers and importers, commercial vehicle and fleet operators, motoring organisations, environmental organisations and the media.
What does the star rating system mean?
A six star rating system is used. Basically, the more stars, the better the vehicle performs in that category. The process of assigning star ratings first requires vehicles to be ranked based on their test results, adherence to standards or design features. In general, star ratings attempt to reflect the position of a model relative to the vehicle fleet in New Zealand. Therefore, the rules that translate rankings into ratings may be re-assessed from time to time.
How do you work out the top five models?
The top five models are those which have the highest ratings averaged across all the categories — fuel economy, driver safety, others’ safety, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and air pollution. If a model doesn’t have a rating for a particular category, then the average rating for all vehicles in that category will be used in working out its overall rating.
Which vehicles are rated on Rightcar?
Currently Rightcar lists cars, 4WDs, SUVs, vans and utility vehicles that have been sold in New Zealand since 2005, when regulations started requiring importers to supply fuel economy information. You should be able to find most new cars. Soon you will also be able to find ex-Japanese domestic vehicles built since 2000. Over time, more models will be added to the site as they enter the country.
How does the site link with the existing Fuelsaver website?
Fuelsaver.govt.nz is a website that provides people with information about the fuel consumption of vehicles available on the New Zealand market. The website has a calculator that lets you work out the fuel running cost of vehicles. The calculator has four categories: car, distance, fuel, and driving habits. Under each of these categories are a number of variables, which you can manipulate to find the fuel consumption and fuel running costs of specific vehicle. The fuel consumption figures on Rightcar are obtained in the same way as on Fuelsaver. The two sites are linked and provide complementary information.
Why should people be concerned about fuel consumption?
Cars are not cheap to run. The less fuel you use, the more money in your pocket. Transport accounts for around 44% of New Zealand’s energy use (with passenger transport making up 57% of that) and 40% of its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and it’s growing fast. There is not an endless supply of fossil fuels. Also, the more fuel efficient your vehicle is, the less carbon dioxide it produces. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. It makes sense to own a fuel efficient vehicle, maintain it and drive it well. And it’s better for the environment.
Why is it important to know about vehicle safety features?
Your chances of being hurt in a crash — or having one in the first place — are dramatically reduced if your car has safety features. The car you drive can also have an effect on what happens to pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and the driver of the other car in a collision. Research suggests that ESC (electronic stability control) can reduce your chances of crashing by around 30%. Airbags have reduced injuries and saved the lives of thousands of people in serious crashes. (Of course, a safe and in-control driver is still the most important safety feature!)
Who runs the website?
Rightcar was developed by and is administered by Land Transport New Zealand.
Rightcar help
Why can’t I find my own car on this site?
It’s probably because Rightcar only lists cars, 4WDs, SUVs, vans and utility vehicles that have been sold in New Zealand since 2005. Soon you will also be able to find ex-Japanese domestic vehicles built since 2000.
Why didn’t my search give me the results I expected on the Select page?
The first thing to do is check for a message in red under the “Select from results” header. If you see one, this means that your search terms didn’t match any vehicle in the database and Rightcar is showing you the nearest matches it has found. If this happens or if Rightcar shows you fewer results than you expect, try making your search options more general by using the Any and All options in the search boxes. Also, remember that there may be more than one page of search results. You can see how many pages there are, and move between them if there is more than one, in the line just below the Sort box on the Select page. If you get too many results, try making your search more specific.
What does Sort do on the Select page?
The vehicles on the select page are listed in “best first” order according to the average of their ratings across all the categories. You can choose to Sort the vehicles by a specific category. For example, you can sort them by fuel economy meaning that the most economical vehicles will be shown first.
Why can’t I see any vehicles on the Compare page?
If no vehicles are shown on the Compare page, this means that you haven’t selected any vehicles to be compared on the Select page, or that you selected them but then clicked the Compare tab on the top of the screen rather than the Compare buttons on the right of the page. You should go back to the Compare page, tick one or more vehicles in the right hand column, and then click one of the Compare buttons on the right of the screen.
Why can’t I see all the vehicles I’m trying to compare?
The Compare page will show a maximum of three vehicles at a time. If you are comparing more than three vehicles, links will appear just above the names of the vehicles being compared to let you navigate between all the vehicles you’re comparing.
How can I remove some or all of the vehicles I’m comparing?
To remove a vehicle from the comparison, click the Hide button to the right of its name. This will add the vehicle to the Recent Selections dropdown menu at the top of the screen, and you can click Add to put it back into the comparison. To remove some or all vehicles permanently from the comparison, Hide them and then click the Clear button beneath the Recent Selections dropdown menu.
How do I add vehicles to a comparison?
Use the Add Cars button on the left of the Compare page, or do a new search.
If I do a new search, will I lose the vehicles I’m already comparing?
No.
When I add a new vehicle to a comparison, where will it appear?
The newest vehicle added to a comparison is added on the left of the Compare page (or the left of the first Compare page you see, if there is more than one).
If a vehicle has lots of stars for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, does this mean it has high emissions?
No. More stars means better, so the more stars a vehicle has for carbon dioxide emissions, the lower its emissions will be.
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