New wheel clamping rules

The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Act passed in November 2019, and introduces new requirements to regulate the maximum fee that wheel clamping operators can charge. The Act:

• sets the maximum fee that operators can charge at $100 (including GST)

• requires operators to be available (within reason) to respond to requests to remove a wheel clamp

• requires operators to remove a wheel clamp as soon as reasonably practicable after a fee is paid

• makes it an offence for an operator to charge more than the maximum fee or to fail to remove a wheel clamp within a reasonable timeframe after a fee is paid

• makes these offences enforceable by the New Zealand Police.

The new requirements apply to operators who use wheel clamping as a parking enforcement method on private property, such as shopping centre carparks. They don’t apply to parking on public roads such as state highways.

Read more about the new requirements on the New Zealand Legislation website(external link).

Information for consumers about your rights if your car has been clamped is available on our Consumer Protection website(external link).

You can read background information about the Cabinet decision in these documents: