Can a carpark company or local council access the Motor Vehicle Register to contact car owners about parking fines?

Yes, they can, if they have authorised access to the Motor Vehicle Register (MVR) for this purpose. The Land Transport Act (section 236) allows any person to request access to information about a specific vehicle on the MVR for particular purposes, including the collection of charges.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) can also grant general approvals to car parking companies to access the MVR to contact the registered owners of vehicles that have breached car parking terms and conditions (section 241).  The NZTA must consult with the Privacy Commissioner, the Chief Ombudsman and the Commissioner of Police before granting a general approval.

Access to your personal details in the MVR for this defined purpose does not breach the Privacy Act because it is authorised by another statute (section 7).

A carpark company with authorised access to the MVR should say in its policy that it may obtain the name and address of the owner of the vehicle from the MVR and pass this information to third parties for the purposes of debt recovery in accordance with its terms and conditions.

The list of companies and individuals with approved access to the MVR is available here.(external link)

You have the right to opt out from having your personal details made available to a company or body authorised to access name and address information if you notify the Motor Vehicle Registrar (section 241(7)). You can notify the Registrar through Waka Kotahi here(external link).

If you are concerned about a risk to the privacy or personal safety of yourself or others, you can ask the Registrar to grant confidential status to your vehicle on the MVR to limit access to your details (s 239). For instance, section 108 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995 (external link)says where a protection order is in force, any protected person can apply for identifying information on a public register not to be publicly available.