50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
20 June 2022
www.nzta.govt.nz
T. Ho
[FYI request #19441 email]
REF: OIA-10188
Dear T. Ho
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 24 May 2022 requesting the following information under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act):
When a replacement fee wil be charged for a drivers licence?
When a renewal fee wil be charged for a drivers licence?
What is the policy for elderly drivers who need to change the conditions of their licence due to
medical situational changes from the age of 64 til 75 and how much they wil be charged?
I wil respond to each aspect of your request below.
Replacement and renewal driver licence applications
The fee charged for a driver licence wil depend on the type of application made by a driver licence holder at one
of the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency licensing agents (Automobile Association or Vehicle Testing New
Zealand).
If a photo driver licence card (PDL) has been lost, stolen or damaged, the licence holder can complete a
replacement application to have a new PDL issued to them. The application wil automatical y cancel the old PDL
to reduce the risk of the licence details being used fraudulently should the card be located by a third party. A
replacement licence application can also be used if a person wishes to change the details that appear on their
PDL (for example, when changing their name or address). The replacement PDL wil have the same expiry date
as the previous one.
A driver licence renewal application is generally used when a driver licence is either nearing its expiry date or has
expired within the previous five years. Any licence holders under the age of 75 may renew their driver licence at
any time. For those older than 75, they can only renew their driver licence within six months of the licence expiry
date. In these instances, the renewal application wil produce a new PDL with a renewed expiry date of up to ten
years (depending on the persons age).
As the expiry date of the driver licence doesn’t change with a replacement licence application, it may be
worthwhile for people to simply renew their licence instead. For example, if a person under the age of 75 has lost
their PDL, and stil has two years until the licence is set to expire, it would be beneficial for them to renew the
licence now for a further ten-year period. Otherwise, if they simply replaced the PDL now, they wil stil be required
to complete a licence renewal application in two years’ time.
Further information regarding the driver licence replacement and renewal applications, is available on our website
at the below link:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/driver-licences/renewing-replacing-and-updating/
Older driver licence conditions
While the majority of licence holders wil only gain a medical certificate for driver licensing purposes at the time of
a renewal, health practitioners cannot assume that the driver licensing system wil pick up all individuals who are
unfit to drive. Therefore, Waka Kotahi advises practitioners that it is important they consider medical fitness to
drive in their everyday dealings with patients, not just when someone wants a medical or eyesight certificate for
driver licensing purposes.
Should health practitioners determine that a licence holder should have further conditions placed on their licence,
or existing conditions removed, they are able to provide this information to the Waka Kotahi Medical Review team
for further assessment. If the Case Officer tasked with reviewing the information determines that a new condition
should be added, or an existing condition should be removed from the licence, the person’s driver licence record
is updated in the Driver Licence Register (DLR). The Case Officer wil also order a new PDL to be sent to the
licence holder within the next seven to ten days. The new PDL is free of charge.
The above policy applies to al licence holders, not just those aged between 64 and 75 years of age. This also
applies to al medical related conditions that appear on a driver licence record except the B condition (lenses must
be used at all times while driving). In these instances, should a licence holder need to have a B condition added
to their licence due to deteriorating eyesight, or the condition removed, due to corrective surgery or a change in
their eyesight, they can complete a standard replacement of licence application at one of our licensing agents.
After providing the relevant eyesight certificate or completing the eye test at the agent, the B condition can then
be updated in the DLR and a new PDL produced. The licence holder wil be required to pay the replacement
licence fee of $38.20.
However, as mentioned earlier, a replacement licence application wil not update the expiry date of the licence,
and it may therefore be more appropriate to renew the driver licence instead. Most licences wil generally be
issued for 10 years and cost $43.90. If a licence holder is aged 65 or over, the licence may be issued for less than
the standard term and wil expire on their 75th birthday. In which case, they wil pay a lower fee, depending on
their age, as the licence wil not be valid for the same amount of time. For example, if a person is aged 65, their
licence wil be valid for ten years and they wil pay the $43.90 renewal fee. If the person is aged 73, their licence
wil only be valid for two years, and wil pay a pro rata renewal fee of $14.70.
Further information regarding the driver licence renewal fees is available at:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/driver-licences/licensing-fees/renewal-fees/#licence-renewal
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi, please contact Ministerial Services by email to
[NZTA request email]
Yours sincerely
Sue Hardiman
Senior Manager Vehicle and Driver Licensing
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