New Zealand insurers are worried by a Ministry of Transport decision to examine the feasibility of making motor vehicle third party property damage insurance compulsory.

The ministry’s Manager Land Safety Legislation Leo Mortimer told Sunrise Exchange News that NZ has a third party accident compensation scheme to deal with personal injury, but has no provisions for third party property insurance.

“The last time the Government looked at third party cover was in 1994,” he said. “At that stage the consensus was that there was no great benefit in introducing third party property cover. Now we’ve done some international research and we want to re-address the issue.”

The ministry has had some discussions with the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ), which isn’t keen on the idea.

Past attempts by state governments in Australia to introduce compulsory third party property damage (CTPPD) schemes have been vigorously opposed by insurers, which fear it would have a severe impact on the number of motorists who take out comprehensive cover.

The last government in the region to consider a move to a compulsory scheme was South Australia about 12 years ago. The Insurance Council of Australia mounted an extensive advertising campaign in Adelaide to raise awareness of the availability of third party property damage insurance, and the SA Government backed off.

ICNZ CEO Chris Ryan says the introduction of CTPPD wouldn’t reduce the road toll and is “way down in the long list of issues that need to be addressed”. He says more important issues are speeding, drink driving, better driver education and licensing.

Mr Mortimer says he hopes to have a better idea of where the Government stands in relation to CTP by the end of the year.