Minister of Trade and Industry, Leslie Miller, yesterday warned local consumers to beware of flood damaged vehicles in the face of international reports that hurricane damaged cars are being sold to Caribbean car dealers.
Minister Miller said he intends to take a no-nonsense approach to unscrupulous dealers who are purchasing flood-damaged vehicles and passing them off to unsuspecting Bahamians as top-notch used vehicles.
“We can only urge Bahamians not to buy vehicles from persons who operate car lots that are not worthy of being called car lots. The car lots should be certifiable car lots and my ministry will be looking into that now, because there is an array of car lots that are operating, that do not have the proper business licences nor do they pay annual business licence fees,” Minister Miller told The Bahama Journal.
The minister said he has no doubt that most of the used vehicles that are brought into The Bahamas and sold are water damaged and wrecked, and cannot be sold in the United States.
“I indicated a few months ago that since Hurricane Katrina, with the excessive damage in New Orleans and Mississippi, many of those vehicles will find their way to The Bahamas. If they are not here already, they are probably on the way,” he said.
Minister Miller explained the importance of the Standards Bill, which was recently passed in the Senate, to his ministry.
“With the Standards Bill becoming law we will be taking a second look at vehicles brought into The Bahamas that are water logged or have been deemed a wreck. Under the new Act the ministry has the authority to ban those vehicles from entering our post,” Minister Miller said.
Car dealers found in violation of bringing in derelict vehicles will face having their inventory terminated.
“Most of the other countries in the Caribbean have already implemented The Standards Bureau, which keeps most of these vehicles out of their country and The Bahamas is one of the last areas left where they continue to have a field day at the expense of the unsuspecting public, and that needs to stop forthwith,” Minister Miller said.
According to the minister, the Bill also gives the government a greater opportunity to deal with shipping companies and importers that continue to bring damaged vehicles into the country.
“These flood damaged vehicles will never be of any good to the driver. My ministry will now look at having those vehicles removed and perhaps find some of the shippers who continue to bring vehicles into this country, that they know have no business being here,” Minister Miller said.
The Act also allows consumers who have purchased flood-damaged cars to take legal action against car dealers, who could face a fine or jail term.
According to Minister Miller, the prime minister has mandated that the rest of this term be dedicated to assisting consumers in the country.
And the minister has made used cars a top priority.
Meanwhile, several local car dealers said they are aware of these damaged cars but ensured that the cars on their lots are purchased from authentic auction car dealers.
Jay Allen, owner of Jay Allen’s Auto Sales, said that depending on the extent of the damage, car dealers would not be able to tell if the cars were damaged by flood; however, he explained that once purchased from a reputable company in the United States, the car’s facts and history report should accompany each vehicle.
“Even though I am provided with the car’s facts, I still conduct a thorough inspection of the cars and listen to the sales auction announcements on flood history. Because it makes no sense to make foolish investments into vehicles that can’t be resold,” Mr. Allen said.
A manager at Fresh Auto Centre, Martin Gibson, said it is a practice at the car dealership to check car titles to ensure they are “clean.”
“All dealers should be concerned about purchasing flood damaged cars because 90 percent of the time the flood damaged cars are no good. If the car was fully immersed in water it will be easy to detect that the car is water damaged; however, there are cases where the water may have been low and it’s hard to tell whether the car has any damage,” Mr. Gibson said.
He said the best way to detect if a car has suffered flood damage is to check the cigarette lighter.
Owner of Destiny Motors, Gary Cox, said that while young companies may be easily fooled into purchasing flood-damaged cars, more experienced car dealers can tell the difference.
He said once dealers have purchased from licensed auctioneers, the cars are often suitable and secure to drive.
“The dealers here are concerned because some cars are making their way from the Louisiana area down to Florida, so they are being sold to dealers. They are especially targeting Caribbean car dealers who take the cars into another country and therefore the headache would be off their hands. But what we do, we check the vehicles thoroughly and they ensure us that there is no damage,” Mr. Cox said.
It is recommended that consumers purchase from a legitimate automobile dealer in New Providence or Florida to avoid purchasing a bad vehicle.
International reports indicate that water damage from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 ruined approximately 75,000 vehicles and more than half of those ended up back on the road.
Tropical Storm Allison damaged another 95,000 in 2001 and Hurricane Ivan, in 2004, left more than 100,000 vehicles water logged. The numbers for Hurricane Katrina are expected to skyrocket above a quarter-million and safety experts have warned that many of these flood-damaged vehicles will also be “dried out” and offered for sale.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
