Car trouble

Some local reconditioned car dealers are selling vehicles they have reassembled from imported parts and this practice may soon be put to an end.

Deputy Director of Commerce in the Ministry of Trade and Commerce Margaret Campbell-Leslie said currently a new policy was being looked at to address this under the Miscellaneous Control Act.

“If you are bringing in a car, you need an import license, but if you are bringing in car parts, you do not need an import license. So what we saw happening is that persons are bringing in the cars in parts and then they do the reassembling of that vehicle here in Barbados – a well known secret,” she said.

Underlining that these reassembled vehicles may have hidden defects that can compromise their safety and lead to accidents, Campbell-Leslie therefore urged persons to exercise caution when making car purchases.

“Think about your family or your friends who have this car that was put together and welded. There was a case where the car started to split. So this is something that we have to look at seriously because we are having an increase where persons are applying for permission to become the dealer of reconditioned cars and there is nothing illegal about that…(but) we have situations where they bring in a car saying it is for personal use but who is to say that they won’t fix that car up and sell it to you....”

“...Even if it was for personal use, it would still be a drain on our economy if you got injured, if the insurance has to pay out because now my premium is going to go up and so it will impact on all of us,” she stressed.
To combat this, Campbell-Leslie outlined, “We are looking at redoing the policy on car dealership and cars in general so that is something that we would be looking at seriously.”

She made the comments while addressing a CrimeStoppers workshop on Illicit Trade at the Hilton Barbados yesterday. (JMB)