WOF or rego expired in New Zealand, the fines and what to do

Last updated 20 June 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

It is one of the most ordinary slip-ups there is. The warrant ran out a few weeks ago, or the rego label is showing last month, and you have kept driving because the car is fine and life is busy. Then you see a ticket on the windscreen, or a police car behind you, and you wonder how much trouble a lapsed sticker actually is. The honest answer is that the fines are small and fixed, there is no grace period at all, and the two things people most often get wrong are thinking they are safe while the car is just parked, and not realising the real risk is their insurance.

This guide sets out exactly what an expired warrant of fitness and an expired registration cost you, the one situation where you can still legally drive, how to sort it out for the least money, and the steps that can get a ticket waived. It is general information, not legal advice.

Warrant and rego are two different things

People lump them together, but a warrant of fitness and a registration are separate things with separate rules, and you can have one without the other.

A warrant of fitness is a safety check. An approved inspector looks the vehicle over and confirms it meets the minimum safety standard on the day, and the label on your windscreen shows when the next one is due. A registration, or rego, is not a safety check at all. It is a licence to use the vehicle on the road, paid to the Transport Agency, and part of what you pay funds the accident compensation scheme. One is about whether the car is safe. The other is about whether you have paid to use it. You need both to be current, and you cannot renew your rego if your warrant has lapsed, so the warrant is the one to fix first.

How often you need a warrant of fitness

How often a car needs a warrant depends on its age, under the Transport Agency’s rules.

• Vehicles first registered on or after 1 January 2000 need a warrant once a year.
• Vehicles first registered before 1 January 2000 need a warrant every six months.
• Brand new vehicles get their first warrant on registration and do not need another until the third anniversary of first registration.
• Veteran and vintage vehicles 40 years and older moved to annual inspections from 1 September 2025, having previously been six-monthly.

The warrant is valid until the date on the label, and a fresh one issued before that date generally runs from the inspection. Heavy vehicles and some others need a certificate of fitness instead, which works on a similar principle.

From 1 November 2026 these intervals ease for several categories. New light vehicles move to a four-year first warrant, many vehicles aged four to fourteen move from annual to two-yearly, and the oldest vehicles and pre-2000 motorcycles move from six-monthly to annual. If your vehicle is near one of those boundaries, check the Transport Agency for the schedule that applies to it.

The fine for an expired warrant

Operating a vehicle with an expired or failed warrant of fitness carries a $200 infringement fee. New Zealand Police are blunt about the grace period. There is none. As the police put it, the only acceptable reason for using your vehicle on an expired warrant is to take it to get a new one.

One change is coming. From 1 November 2026 the fee for operating a vehicle whose warrant has been expired for more than two months rises from $200 to $350. A short lapse stays at the lower fee, but letting a warrant run months overdue gets more expensive.

The part that catches people out is that the car does not have to be moving. A current warrant and rego are required for the vehicle to be on a public road at all, so a vehicle parked on the street with an expired warrant can be issued a stationary vehicle infringement even if it has not turned a wheel in days. Parking it outside your house does not put it beyond reach. The only way to keep an unwarranted or unlicensed vehicle legally is to keep it off the road entirely, on private property such as a driveway or garage.

Warrant and registration offences differ on demerit points. An expired warrant of fitness is a fine only and carries no demerit points. An expired rego is different. Driving or using an unlicensed vehicle on the road carries 15 demerit points on top of the fine, and an unregistered vehicle carries 20, so a lapsed rego can move you towards a licence suspension in a way a lapsed warrant does not.

The one time you can drive on an expired warrant

There is a single exemption. You can drive a vehicle with an expired warrant when you are taking it to get a new warrant, or to a place to be repaired so it can pass, and only if the vehicle is actually safe to be driven. The trip has to be for that purpose. You cannot run the week’s errands on the way and call it a trip to the garage.

The safety condition matters. If the vehicle is not safe, the exemption does not help you, and a genuinely unsafe car driven on the road is a more serious problem than a lapsed label. If the warrant has expired because the car has a real fault, the better course is to book a mobile mechanic or have it towed rather than drive it.

Booking the inspection first is also sensible, so that if you are stopped you can show you were genuinely on your way to a test you had arranged.

Expired rego, what actually happens

Driving an unlicensed vehicle, one with expired rego, also carries a $200 infringement fee, and the same no-grace-period and parked-on-the-road rules apply as for the warrant. But the question people most worry about is the money. If the rego lapsed six months ago, do you have to pay all six months to catch up?

Usually yes, and this is where people get caught. New Zealand uses continuous licensing, which means a vehicle is not allowed to have unlicensed days unless you have officially taken it off the road. So when you renew after a lapse, you generally pay the licensing back to the date it expired, not just from today. Letting it sit unlicensed does build up what is owed.

There are only two ways to avoid paying for a gap. One is to put the rego on hold before it lapses, covered below. The other applies if you buy a vehicle that is already unlicensed, in which case you pay only from the date you bought it, not from when the previous owner’s licence expired.

There is a hard deadline, though. If a vehicle stays unlicensed for 12 months, its registration is cancelled, and getting it back on the road then is a bigger job than a simple renewal. So a lapse of a few weeks is a cheap fix, but a vehicle left unlicensed for a year is a different and more expensive situation.

To renew, sort the warrant first if it has also lapsed, then renew the rego online through the Transport Agency, or at an agent such as VTNZ, the AA or a PostShop. You only need your plate number.

Putting your rego on hold

This is the part most people do not know about, and it is the one that saves money. If you are not going to use a vehicle on the road for three months or more, perhaps it is off the road for repairs, you are away, or it is a project car or a second vehicle sitting in the garage, you can put the rego on hold instead of paying for it or letting it lapse.

The official term is an exemption from continuous licensing, and the Transport Agency lets you apply online, through its contact centre or at an agent. An exemption lasts from three to twelve months, you do not pay rego fees while it is in place, and you will not be invoiced or fined for an expired licence during that time. You can apply for another exemption when one is due to run out. The one condition to know is that if you already owe licensing fees, you have to clear those when you apply. While the rego is on hold you cannot drive the vehicle on the road, which is the whole point of it.

If you have a car you are not driving, putting it on hold is almost always better than letting the rego quietly expire and risking a fine on a vehicle you are not even using.

Can you get the ticket waived

Sometimes, and it is worth trying where the lapse was short and innocent.

If the ticket was a stationary vehicle infringement issued by a council or Auckland Transport, for example a ticket left on a parked car for an expired warrant or rego, you can write to the council disputing it, the same way you would any parking ticket. Councils will often waive an expired warrant or rego ticket where the lapse was short, typically within around 28 days, and you have already put it right and can show the renewed warrant or licence. Renew first, then appeal with proof, because an appeal is far stronger once the problem is fixed. The grounds that councils accept are set out in our guide on how to get out of a parking ticket in New Zealand.

A ticket handed to you by a police officer is harder to shift, because it is a direct enforcement decision rather than a council infringement, but you can still ask for it to be reviewed if there were genuine mitigating circumstances. Either way, do not simply ignore an infringement, because an unpaid infringement escalates with added court costs and ends up with the Ministry of Justice.

The insurance risk people forget

The $200 fine is the small problem. The large one is your insurance. Many car insurance policies require the vehicle to have a current warrant of fitness and registration, and if it does not, the insurer may decline a claim, particularly where the lapse is connected to the accident, for example a fault that a warrant would have caught.

If you crash an expensive car while the warrant is months out of date, the cost of a declined claim dwarfs any fine. This is the real reason to keep both current, and to check your policy wording rather than assume you are covered. If you are in any doubt after a lapse, talk to your insurer before you need to make a claim, not after.

Pink and green stickers

Separate from a lapsed label, a police officer or inspector who believes a vehicle is unsafe can inspect it on the spot and order it off the road, even if it currently holds a warrant. This is where pink and green stickers come in.

• A green sticker means the vehicle has a defect that must be fixed. Depending on the fault, you may be able to drive it away under conditions, or to repair it on the spot, but if not it must be repaired and re-inspected before it goes back on the road.
• A pink sticker is more serious. It means the vehicle has been judged unsafe and ordered off the road, and it must not be driven at all until it has been repaired, inspected and issued a new warrant or certificate of fitness.

A stickered vehicle has to be cleared by an inspecting organisation that does not also repair vehicles, such as VTNZ, VINZ or the AA, so you cannot simply have the garage that fixes it also pass it. Ignoring a pink sticker and driving anyway is a far more serious matter than a lapsed warrant.

What to do right now

1. Get the warrant sorted first. Book an inspection. You can drive there on an expired warrant if the car is safe and you go directly. If it is not safe, arrange repairs or a tow instead.
2. Then renew the rego. Do it online with your plate number, or at VTNZ, the AA or a PostShop. Expect to pay the licensing back to the expiry date, because licensing is continuous.
3. If you are not using the car, put the rego on hold rather than letting it lapse, so you stop paying and cannot be fined.
4. If you already have a ticket, renew first, then appeal a council stationary ticket with proof the warrant or rego is now current. Do not ignore it.
5. Check your insurance. Confirm your policy did not lapse with the warrant, and fix any gap before you need to claim.

Related guides

• How to get out of a parking ticket in New Zealand
• How to get out of a speeding ticket in New Zealand
• How to get your car back from a towing company in New Zealand

Frequently asked questions

How much is the fine for an expired WoF or rego in New Zealand

It is a $200 infringement fee for an expired warrant of fitness, and a separate $200 fee for an unlicensed vehicle with expired rego. There is no grace period, so you can be fined the day after expiry, and you can be ticketed even while the vehicle is parked on a public road.

Is there a grace period for an expired warrant of fitness

No. New Zealand Police confirm there is no grace period. The only legal reason to drive on an expired warrant is to take the vehicle directly to get a new warrant or to be repaired, and only if it is safe to drive.

Can I be fined if my car is just parked on the street

Yes. A current warrant and rego are required to have the vehicle on a public road at all, so a car parked on the street with an expired warrant or rego can be issued a stationary vehicle infringement. To keep an unwarranted or unlicensed vehicle without risk, keep it off the road on private property.

Do I have to pay back rego for the months it lapsed

Usually yes. Licensing is continuous, so when you renew after a lapse you generally pay the rego back to the date it expired, not just from today. You avoid this only by putting the rego on hold before it lapses, or, if you buy an already-unlicensed vehicle, by paying from your purchase date. If a vehicle stays unlicensed for 12 months its registration is cancelled.

Can I renew my rego if my warrant has expired

No. You need a current warrant of fitness to license the vehicle, so get the warrant first and then renew the rego. You can renew the rego online with just your plate number, or at an agent such as VTNZ, the AA or a PostShop.

Do WoF or rego fines carry demerit points

An expired warrant of fitness does not carry demerit points. An expired rego does. Driving an unlicensed vehicle carries 15 demerit points on top of the $200 fine, and an unregistered vehicle carries 20. Both can also affect your insurance, which is often the bigger risk.

Will my insurance still cover me with an expired warrant

It may not. Many policies require a current warrant and rego, and an insurer can decline a claim where the vehicle was not warranted or licensed, especially if the lapse is connected to the accident. Check your policy wording, because a declined claim can cost vastly more than the fine.

What is the difference between a pink and green sticker

A green sticker means the vehicle has a defect to fix and may be driveable under conditions or after a roadside repair, otherwise it must be repaired and re-inspected. A pink sticker means the vehicle has been ordered off the road as unsafe and must not be driven at all until it is repaired, inspected and re-certified by an inspecting organisation that does not repair vehicles.

Have you been caught out by a lapsed warrant or rego in New Zealand, or got a ticket waived? Tell us how it went in the comments below.