How to check a car's rego and WoF in New Zealand

Before you drive across town to see a car, type its plate into the NZ Transport Agency's free expiry checker. In a few seconds it tells you whether the rego is current, when the WoF runs out and, on a diesel or an EV, how far the road user charges are paid. Nobody needs to pay for that, including us.

What those dates mean for a buyer is less obvious. An expired rego becomes your bill, a fresh WoF says nothing about the gearbox, and neither date tells you who owns the car or whether a lender has a claim on it. This guide covers all of it, and says what is free and what costs. Everything here was checked against NZTA and NZ Police sources in September 2026.

How to check rego and WoF by plate for free

1. 1.Open NZTA's Check expiry tool. It asks for the plate number and nothing else. No fee, no account.
2. 2.Read the three dates it returns: the vehicle licence (rego) or an exemption from licensing, the WoF or CoF inspection, and the road user charges (RUC) licence where the vehicle has one.
3. 3.Match them against the labels when you view the car. The rego label sits on the left-hand side of the windscreen and the WoF label on the driver's side.

Rego is not registration, and neither is ownership

In New Zealand, rego means the vehicle licence: the recurring fee that lets a vehicle use the road, shown on the windscreen label. Registration is a different thing, the one-off step that puts a vehicle on the Motor Vehicle Register when it first arrives here.

The register does not record who owns a car either. It records the registered person, and NZTA is explicit that this is not the same as legal ownership. So a current rego tells you the licence fees are paid, not that the seller has the right to sell. If you want to confirm the seller is at least the registered person, NZTA's confirm registered person service checks the plate against a name and a date of birth or driver licence number that the seller gives you.

What the rego date tells you

• Current: the licence fees are paid up to the date shown. That is all it means.
• Expired: if you buy it, NZTA says you pay the licensing fees from the date you bought it. The vehicle also needs a current WoF or CoF before it can be relicensed, so an expired rego often arrives with an expired WoF.
• Exemption, or rego on hold: the vehicle is not licensed for the road and cannot legally be used on it until it is relicensed. That includes your test drive.
• Unlicensed for 12 months: NZTA cancels the registration. Getting a cancelled vehicle back on the road means inspection, certification, registration, licensing and new plates, which is a far bigger job than a renewal.

What the WoF date tells you, and what it does not

A warrant of fitness is a general safety check, passed on the day it was issued. The inspector looks at tyres, brakes, structural rust, lights, glass, wipers, doors, seatbelts, airbags, the speedometer, steering and suspension, and exhaust and fuel leaks.

NZTA is plain that a WoF is not a pre-purchase inspection. It does not check the condition of the engine, clutch, gearbox or differential, oil and fluid levels, how much life is left in the brake pads unless they are visibly below safe limits, or paintwork and rust outside the structural areas. A car can pass its WoF in the morning with a gearbox that is on its way out.

• You can insist that the WoF on a light vehicle is less than one month old. If you do not insist, NZTA suggests confirming in writing to the seller that you accept an older one.
• Without a current WoF, a vehicle can only be driven to a repair or an inspection.
• A car with a damage or safety flag on the register cannot get a WoF until it has been properly repaired and inspected again. NZTA keeps a free damaged vehicles list you can search by VIN or chassis number. Repaired vehicles stay on it, and NZTA says it may not hold every damaged vehicle.

WoF rules change from 1 November 2026

The Government has announced fewer inspections for lower-risk light vehicles, phased in from 1 November 2026. According to NZTA:

• Light vehicles registered on or after 1 November 2019 move from an annual WoF to one every two years from 1 November 2026.
• Light vehicles registered between 1 November 2013 and 31 October 2019 follow from 1 November 2027.
• Brand-new vehicles get their second WoF at four years instead of three.
• Vehicles registered before 1 January 2000 move from a six-monthly WoF to an annual one.
• The infringement fee for using a vehicle whose WoF expired more than two months ago rises from $200 to $350.

For a buyer, the practical effect is that a perfectly valid WoF on a newer car could soon be close to two years old. The right to ask for one under a month old matters more, not less.

RUC, the third date on diesels and EVs

Petrol vehicles pay for the roads through fuel tax. Diesel vehicles pay road user charges instead, and since 1 April 2024 so do light electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Hybrids that cannot plug in do not. So a diesel Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger needs RUC, as does a Nissan Leaf or a plug-in Mitsubishi Outlander. A Toyota Aqua does not.

The expiry tool shows the RUC licence. NZTA warns that if RUC is overdue when you buy, you may become responsible for the outstanding charges, and suggests allowing for that in the price. Compare the distance on the RUC label with the odometer: a reading past the end of the purchased distance means the RUC has run out.

What a rego and WoF check cannot tell you

Both dates come from the register and both are about paperwork. None of the following shows up in them.

• Money owing. Finance secured against a car is recorded on the Personal Property Securities Register, not the Motor Vehicle Register, so a rego or WoF check will never show it. The history check below includes it.
• Stolen status. The NZ Police stolen vehicle search is free by plate, VIN, engine or chassis number. Police say the data is a snapshot, and it leaves out thefts that have not been reported or not yet recorded.
• Odometer history. One reading on a WoF sheet cannot show a wound-back odometer. You need the sequence of readings across the life of the car.
• Mechanical condition. A WoF was never designed to find it, as above.

Where KickTyres fits in

Not in the rego and WoF dates. Those are free from NZTA and that is where to get them. Typing a plate into the free KickTyres lookup shows the make, model, year, engine and safety rating, the documented faults for that model, and, with a free account, the damage and recall flags on the register.

The paid Full History Info check, $13.49, covers what the free tools do not put in one place: rego and WoF status with a warning when either has expired, is due within 30 days or is on hold, plus money owing, a stolen check, the full odometer history, ownership history and a market valuation. The Full History Report + Inspection, $24.90, adds the documented faults for that exact engine and a guided inspection to walk around the car with.

Before you go to see the car

1. 1.Run the plate through NZTA's expiry tool. Free.
2. 2.Run it through the NZ Police stolen vehicle search. Free.
3. 3.Check for money owing with a history report before you pay anything.
4. 4.Ask for a WoF under a month old, or budget for a fresh one.
5. 5.Look up the documented faults for that model and engine, so the test drive is aimed at what actually fails.