How to pay New Zealand car tax online (Rego)
New Zealand is a country where cars are a necessity. When you first come to New Zealand, you'll most likely think about buying a car, and when you do, you'll need to know about Rego, also known as the New Zealand Vehicle Tax. Today, we're going to show you how to pay the Rego online.
New Zealand car tax Rego
When I first paid my Rego and saw the ticket I received, I was creeped out, because the expiration date was visible on the ticket.
The photo above is a New Zealand car tax Rego ticket. It has the Rego expiration date at the top, followed by the year, make, model, and license plate number of the car.
The Rego expiration above is November 15, 2024, so you'll need to issue a new Rego ticket before then.
At first I thought that some kind of car tax expires, but it turns out that Rego is not what we think of as a car registration tax in New Zealand.
New Zealand Motor Vehicle Taxes Registration, Rego
When you receive your New Zealand Vehicle Tax Rego ticket, you can stick it to the back of your windshield as shown below. It's important to note that if you're over the expiration date and you haven't purchased a new Rego ticket, you may have to pay a fine if you're stopped by the police.
How to pay New Zealand car tax online
There are two main ways to pay New Zealand car tax Rego: online and offline. When you buy a car, you'll usually need to register it with the NZ Transport Agency. If you're buying a used car, both the seller and buyer will also need to register it.
Once you've registered, you'll be able to access your Rego one month before it expires. NZ transport Agencysends an email to the email you entered when you registered your car, reminding you to renew it because it's approaching its expiration date. And as an attachment, it comes with a document like the one below.
On May 15, 2025, your Rego will expire, so you need to renew it. Although Rego is charged annually, you don't have to pay for the entire year at once - you can choose to pay in months based on your personal circumstances.
If you look at the Rego pricing section above, it nicely breaks down the online and offline pricing in 12-month increments of 3 months. It's actually a few dollars cheaper to pay online than offline.
It doesn't have to be 12, 6, 3 months, it can be 5 months, 7 months, whatever you want to call it, and the amount will fluctuate accordingly.
For this car, it would cost $135.84 to pay a year's worth of New Zealand car tax online. Doing one year's worth is slightly cheaper than the total cost of doing two six-month payments.
For those who wish to pay New Zealand vehicle tax online, the link below will take you directly to the NZ Transport Agency renewal page.
What to fill out in the Rego online application
The plate number is your car number, and the reminder number is in the upper right corner of the email attachment. Then, select the number in the box and the number of months you'd like to pay, and you'll be charged.
Once you pay online, we'll ship your renewed Rego ticket to the address on file within 10 days, and you'll be able to display it on your car.
If you are unfortunate enough to get stopped by the police before you receive your renewed Rego ticket, don't worry, you can show them your paid receipt and explain the situation.
How to pay New Zealand car tax Rego offline
Offline, you can go to a NZ post office or VTNZ to fill out an application form and pay for it when you submit it. The application is the same as online, but there's a space for the owner's name and address, so you'll need to add that.
Most applications are available at post offices and VTNZ, but if you're curious, you can find the form below. It's nice to know in advance what information is required so you can be prepared.
The good news is that if you pay your New Zealand car tax in person instead of online, you can get a renewed Rego ticket on the spot. If you really need to get your renewed ticket quickly, you can do it offline.
Finalize
In today's article, we learned how to pay New Zealand car tax online. It's easier and cheaper to do it online than in person, so we recommend you do it online.
If you've ever wondered what happens when you're involved in a car accident in New Zealand, check out my post below.
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