Senior Constable Craig Bennett, of Lawrence, said the crushed vehicle was involved in a serious crash at Waitahuna about three weeks ago.
The vehicle remained on the side of the road as the owner was unable to remove it themselves.
It became ''a bit of a conversation piece'' among Waitahuna and Lawrence residents, Snr Const Bennett said.
Police and volunteer members of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) and St John ambulance services mounted the vehicle and wrapped it in ''any number is too many'' police tape on a tree stump near Lawrence.
Snr Const Bennett said it was to reinforce the message to road users and drivers to be more aware of their driving.
The occupants of the vehicle ''luckily'' managed to walk away from the crash without serious consequence.
''However, not everyone is so lucky,'' Snr Const Bennett said.
''We have had too many fatalities and serious injury crashes on our roads this year.''
Lawrence St John Ambulance acting station officer Mark Chapman said using the car as a display was ''quite a good idea''.
''The message is just drive to the conditions and be aware of other people on the road as much as possible.
''It's not yourself, sometimes it's the others on the road too.''
On Tuesday, two people were killed in a high-speed collision at Glenavy and 11 others were injured in two crashes, one on the Lindis Pass and the other at Orari, in South Canterbury.
So far, seven people have died on New Zealand roads this holiday period, which began at 4pm on Friday.
It ends at 6am on January 4.
This year, 27 people have died on Otago-Southland roads.
Nationally, the number of road deaths has reached 342, the highest since 2010.
