Buyers Duped By Bogus Vehicle Importers - In Depth Investigation

By Nirmala Kannangara 

Certain vehicle dealers are deceiving their customers, especially hybrid vehicle buyers, with bogus certifications and the number of kilometres the vehicles had run. Some bogus dealers even insist on taking the vehicles on a vehicle carrier to the brand agent for testing, giving the impression that the vehicles are almost new and should not be put on the roads until sold.

Many prospective buyers have claimed that when such vehicles are tested by brand agents, they are often found to have met with accidents or their mileage metres are tempered with by the vehicle dealers.

Although it is guaranteed that the brand new vehicles imported by the brand agents Toyota Lanka, Stafford Motors, United Motors and Associated Motorways are in perfect condition, the vehicles that are imported by most of the vehicle dealers are not in proper condition although they appear to be in glistening and shiny. There are many vehicle dealers in the country who are notorious to sell imperfect vehicles duping the customers while there are also a few honest dealers as well. However in general most of the buyers accuse the dealers for duping them by selling defective vehicles.

“Why should these buyers keep faith on the vendor when agents have the facility to check the condition of any of their brands if taken for a vehicle inspection test? Ninety five per cent of these buyers do not know that this service is available with the respective agents and get caught to these dealers who are good salesmen. They know how to attract a potential buyer and when the outer look is in perfect condition, the buyers do not hesitate to purchase it. There are instances where we have seen the buyer gets the opinion of a garage technician. How can a layman who does not have the expert knowledge give a recommendation after going through the outer appearance? All vehicles, be it unregistered or registered, can be taken to the respective agent and get the vehicle condition report within three hours,” said a reputed Mechanical Engineer, who wished to remain anonymous.

It has also come to light that every reconditioned vehicle that comes to the country comes with a pre-shipment inspection certificate that carries every detail of the vehicle – whether the vehicle has met with an accident, whether new parts are fixed, the Odo meter reading and every other detail a potential buyer should know about the vehicle. However it is surprising why the vehicle dealers do not produce this certification to the prospective buyer.

Meanwhile questions have been raised as to why the vehicle dealers insist that the potential buyers, when taking the vehicle to the brand agent to obtain a vehicle inspection report, take the vehicle on a vehicle carrier, giving the impression that the vehicles are almost new and should not be put on the roads until sold.

“This is done to discourage the buyer from taking it to the brand agent. The dealer knows that if the vehicle is taken for an inspection report, the vehicle would not be recommended. The maximum charge for a vehicle carrier to take the vehicle to the brand agent and back to the dealer is Rs.7,500, which has to be borne by the customer in addition to the payment they have to make to the agent for the inspection report, which costs around Rs. 6,750,” said the Mechanical Engineer.

According to him, there are instances where the vehicle dealer promised the customer to return the money they pay to the agent if the vehicle is found to be defective.

“There are many places that give false promises as such but have not returned the money back. The potential buyers should know that these dealers talk to win their hearts to give an impression that they (dealers) are genuine. There are many instances where the buyers listen to these attractive words and trust their words and do not take the vehicle to the brand agent for the inspection report. It is too late when they find out the defects in the vehicle they bought after spending millions of money,” the sources added.

Although there is a myth that vehicle inspections can be carried out only on unregistered reconditioned vehicles, Toyota Lanka, United Motors, Associated Motorways and Stafford Motors confirmed to The Sunday Leader that they give the same service even for registered secondhand vehicles as well.

“Be it unregistered or registered we provide this service for any of our brands,” Assistant Manager, Corporate Planning and Marketing Services, Toyota Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Thushara Fernando said.

According to Fernando, although there are many genuine vehicle dealers in the country who give the accurate details of the vehicles, most of the vehicle dealers dupe the potential buyers who ultimately spend millions of rupees of their hard earned money to buy substandard vehicles.

“Other than Toyota brand, Toyota Company manufactures Hino and Lexus brands as well. If those who have trust with our brands want to purchase any of them from private parties, they can rest assured that Toyota Lanka centers at Wattala, Ratmalana or Nawinna can inspect the vehicles they want to purchase without any hassle,” Fernando said.

Fernando further said that scanning of a vehicle is part of the inspection process and added each vehicle has a small Central Processing Unit (CPU) and this can give details how many kilo metres the vehicle had run.

“Most of the vehicle dealers tamper with the Odo Meter to show the buyers that it has run only a few kilometres. Although they tamper with the Odo Meter, when the vehicle is plugged in to the scanner the correct mileage is revealed. It is futile to tamper with the Odo meter, the system shows the exact details,” Fernando added.

Fernando meanwhile said that if the vehicle dealers physically go and buy the vehicles from auctions in Japan, the inflow of damaged vehicles to the country could be minimized.

“Most of the vehicles that come to the country have met with major accidents. Unless these vehicles are taken for an inspection test, no one can say that it is damaged and has undergone repairs. That is why prospective buyers get caught to some of the fraudulent dealers. There are even instances where the buyer orders the vehicle from Japan after going through the images and the details in the internet. Although the visuals show a perfect outer look they do not know about the transmission system and the mechanism which could have many flaws,” Fernando claimed.

However, according to Fernando, Toyota Lanka offers the service of qualified technicians to inspect the vehicles that are brought to them to obtain the inspection reports.

“We have four levels of technicians certified by Toyota Motor Company. They are Toyota Technicians, Toyota Pro Technicians, Toyota Diagnostic Technicians and Toyota Master Diagnostic Technicians. One of these technicians together with a Supervisor inspects the vehicle before the full inspection report is given. We have learnt that some private garages too scan the vehicles before they are purchased. It is only the Toyota that has scanners that have Toyota Motor Company certified software to diagnose the perfect vehicle condition,” Fernando added.

Meanwhile Assistant Service Engineer, Stafford Motors, S. Palliyaguruge said how he has seen most of the vehicles that are brought to obtain the condition report have many faults.

“When we talk to the customers they say how the vehicle was recommended and they are taken aback when we show them what the faults are. Even just before you spoke to me I was inspecting a Honda Vezel Jeep brought for the inspection report. This vehicle has met with a major accident and was not worth to price the client said. The buyers should understand that the dealer will try to show a good picture of the vehicle and from the outer look he will quote a big price but once it is brought for a condition report only they can find out what exactly the defects are,” Palliyaguruge said.

According to Palliyaguruge, even a mechanical engineer cannot find out the defects if it is not checked underneath.

He further said that the vehicle dealer can change the Odo Metre (mileage metre) with their counterparts in Japan but added that the vehicle details cannot be changed in the system.

When asked whether there is a way the dealer can bribe the technicians at the brand agent, Palliyaguruge said that there is no way the supervisor or the technician could be bribed.

“They know what the consequences would be if they produce a wrong report to the buyer. In such an occasion, if the buyer comes again to us to tell that he bought the vehicle on the basis of our report, we check our system to find out who the technician and the supervisor were. We can then take stern action against them. That is why the technicians and supervisors do not fall prey to any fraud. Our staff is well trained and they carry out an excellent service,” Palliyaguruge claimed.

General Manager Technical Parts and Accessories, United Motors, B. Sinhage too said that United Motors provide this service to their brands – Viva, Mitsubishi, Fuso, DFSK, JMC and MG.

“We sell brand new vehicles and they need not get this inspection report. Most of those who buy reconditioned or secondhand vehicles do not know that they can obtain this service from us and there are many instances we have come across how the vehicle dealers have deceived the buyers,” Sinhage said.

Sinhage further said that the potential buyers should not take the recommendation from garage mechanics, but from the agent as these mechanics do not know the mechanism of latest vehicle models.

“Most of these mechanics have joined the garages as helpers and has later become mechanics. They do not have the expert knowledge to go through the mechanism of latest vehicles. Although when a vehicle is brought for inspection, we can find out all the defects, we cannot find out whether the Odo Meter has been tampered with. Since we have a fully fledged inspection center, our customers could rely on our reports,” Sinhage said.

Meanwhile, Deputy General Manager, Associated Motorways, Pradeep Wijeratne said Nissan or Suzuki brands could be inspected from their inspection centers at New Nuge Road, Peliyagoda, Head Office at Union Place, Kithulwatte Road Narahenpita and Royal Park Garden Road, Rajagiriya.

According to Wijeratne, it is the responsibility of the vehicle dealers to give the pre-shipment inspection certificate to the potential buyers for them to know the exact condition of the vehicle before it was shipped to Colombo.

“Before the reconditioned vehicles are exported, the agents in Japan give each vehicle the pre-shipment inspection certificate. It is the dealers’ responsibility to provide this certificate to the buyers who come to buy a vehicle. This is a detailed report that says whether the vehicle has met with an accident, whether there are damages to the chassis and every other detail of the vehicle. If the dealer does not give this report to the buyer, it shows that he is not genuine. It is up to the buyer to ask this certificate from the dealer,” Wijeratne added.

However, the President of the Vehicle Importers’ Association, Indika Sampath Merenchige accused the brand agents for condemning the vehicles brought to them for vehicle inspection report.

“Except for one brand agent, all other brand agents condemn the reconditioned vehicles in order to sell their brand new vehicles. We have the pre-shipment inspection reports with us,” he said.

When asked why the vehicle dealers do not produce this certificate when buyers call, Merenchige said that they are produced only if the customers make any request.

“If the customers request for it, we produce it. We never import damaged vehicles. There may be a few dealers that dupe customers but most of the dealers are genuine. We do not trust the brand agents,” Merenchige added.

Be that as it may, a potential buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, said as to how she got a narrow escape from purchasing a Toyota Aqua car recently.

“Since the outer look was perfect and the vehicle appeared to be in mint condition, I wanted a mechanical engineer to inspect the vehicle. He too recommended the vehicle and when I informed the dealer that I want to take the vehicle to Toyota Lanka to obtain an inspection report, the dealer agreed to pay back the money I have to pay for the inspection report to Toyota Lanka if the vehicle had any major defects. He however said that I had to take the car in a vehicle carrier as the vehicle is in mint condition and almost new although it had run around 4,000Km and does not want to put it on the roads until sold. So I had to pay Rs.7,500 for the vehicle carrier and took it to Toyota Lanka Navinna center. After the initial supervision, the Supervisor and the technicians showed me the defects.

According to the report both axle nuts had been removed and re-fitted, multi functions were not working properly and not genuine, the alloy wheels were not genuine, the vehicle front had been repaired after a major accident, front and rear bumpers, bonnet, and fenders had been repaired and repainted and both headlights were damaged. They asked me whether I still want to buy the vehicle for them to scan the vehicle. Since I decided not to go ahead with the deal, I wanted them not to scan it. If not for this agent, this reputed vehicle dealer would have easily duped me in millions of rupees,” she said.

Samadara too related her story as how she was deceived by yet another dealer. Since Samadara was not aware that vehicles could be inspected from the brand agent, she had trusted the agent and had purchased a Hybrid car for Rs.3.7 million two months ago.

“I was told that the vehicle is in mint condition and this vehicle was recommended by a broker. When I was driving the car after one and a half months after the purchase, the engine started giving trouble and stopped on the road. It was then only a friend of mine told about this inspection facility and I took it to Toyota Lanka, Wattala and found out that the rear side of the vehicle had met with an accident and was a repaired car. This is an eye opener and I request the general public not to get caught to these vehicles and to take the vehicle they want to buy to the brand agent,” Samadara added.