More than 200 Bay of Plenty motorists are registering their vehicles as ambulances in an effort to save more than $200 in car registration fees.

New Zealand Transport Agency figures for last month show across the Bay 239 vehicles are registered as ambulances, yet there are only 12 official St John ambulances in the region.

The 239 total excludes private private paramedics such as Emergency Medical Technicians.

Breaking this figure down further there are 73 vehicles registered as ambulances in Tauranga City, Western Bay of Plenty 29; Rotorua 86; Whakatane 34; Kawerau 13; and Opotiki four.

Nationwide 2681 motorists have their vehicle registered as an ambulance but there are only 705 registered St John ambulances.

An ACC levy exemption for ambulances means it costs only $52.11 a year to register a non-commercial ambulance, compared with $280.55 for a petrol-driven passenger car - a difference of $228.44. A commercial vehicle costs up to $590.78 to register.

The total loss in levies to ACC is at least $392,500 a year.

A Western Bay of Plenty man told SunLive he has registered his wagon as an ambulance for the last four-five years after hearing about the loop-hole.

'People were doing the same thing with the hearses and they [NZTA] put a ban by making the hearse registration cost the same amount as a standard registration.”

He says the main reason he uses the legal loophole is to save money when registering his diesel wagon. It costs about $680 a year to register a diesel vehicle, saving him about $550 a year.

'The way I see it I'm not actually breaking the law technically speaking because the legal definition of a private passenger car came about because they started charging taxes for using the road.

'A private passenger is defined as a fair-paying person, so I don't' charge anybody to ride in my car with me so the next best thing is a non-commercial ambulance.

'I drive it in the need of an emergency and don't charge people to ride in the car with me.”

NZTA spokesman Andy Knackstedt says vehicle owners are required to licence vehicles under the correct usage. Knowingly licensing a vehicle with an incorrect usage is an offence, carrying a penalty of up to $1000.

'People who knowingly licence their vehicle falsely as a non-commercial ambulance are effectively rorting ACC, as by doing so they avoid paying the annual ACC levy which helps to cover the costs of rehabilitation for people injured in motor vehicle crashes.”

In the last year, Andy says 224 vehicle owners had changed their registration type from ambulance to private vehicle. Nationwide there are more than three million licensed vehicles.

St John Bay of Plenty District operations manager Jeremy Gooders is unaware of unauthorised vehicles in this area being registered as ambulances but is happy for the NZTA to monitor this situation.