New Zealand's fleet of second hand vehicles is getting safer.
This year's Used Car Safety Ratings guide ranks the safety of vehicles based on information from crashes over a 25-year period from 1987 to 2012.
The guide says 51 percent of the second hand cars tested were scored as excellent or good - up slightly from last year.
Automobile Association general manager motoring services Stella Stocks said vehicles with more safety features were making it into the older fleet.
"Year on year vehicles are getting safer, as we see the database build we're actually seeing more of the vehicles that have got the safety features fitted to them in the database, so vehicles fitted with airbags, we're even seeing some vehicles that have got stability control in there as well."
She said the total safety of a vehicle, which included danger to pedestrians and cyclists, was also improving.
