A South Island car dealer has been sentenced after dishonestly applying to get the Clean Car Discount rebate for nearly 120 electric vehicles.
Between March and April 2023, Hamish Gardyne applied for rebates on 119 Nissan Leaf vehicles, claiming they were demonstration cars. The rebate for a Nissan Leaf would be of $3450 per vehicle, amounting to a total claim of $410,550.
The Clean Car Discount rebate could be claimed from April 2022 to December 2023 by low emission vehicle owners. Dealers were allowed to claim a rebate only for cars they registered to themselves and used as a company car, courtesy car or demonstration vehicle for at least three months.
An investigation was launched by the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi over concerns about the number of claims for demonstrator vehicles from Gardyne’s company, HVS (Hamish Vehicle Sales Ltd).
The months-long investigation found Gardyne’s claims to be false, and that he had already sold and exported 90 of the vehicles to Australia.
Waka Kotahi recovered one claim paid out to Gardyne. A further 118 claims were later withdrawn by the car dealer through his lawyer.
Gardyne appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday, where he was sentenced to nine months and two weeks’ home detention and 200 hours of community work.
NZTA national manager road safety regulations Brett Aldridge said yesterday’s sentencing was sending a clear message to the wider industry that this type of behaviour was unacceptable.
“The scale of this fraud is significant, and this sentence should send a strong warning to anyone considering fraudulent activity in the vehicle industry – NZTA will investigate and prosecute when we find breaches,” Aldridge said.
