Used car dealers should be permitted to import 7-year old cars
View(s):Sri Lankan used car dealers have appealed to the Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera to retain current rules of used car vehicles being two years old instead of further reducing the age of the vehicle.
Though there hasn’t been any published report that the government intends to reduce the age of used vehicle imports to one year, used car dealers have entertained these fears for a long time as the government at one point was considering such a proposal.
Worried that vehicles could be subject to further ‘age-reduction’, Indika Sampath Merenchige, Chairman of the Lanka Vehicle Importers Association (LVIA) said in a statement listing out budget proposals that if the usage period of two years is further reduced, importers will be compelled to import cheap vehicles of Indian and Chinese origin, causing a stock pile of cheap and sub-standard imports.
In a comprehensive pre-budget statement, he said that if the volume of import of vehicles increases due to demand for motor vehicles in a developing country, it only shows that it is a symbol of prosperity in the development scene.
The statement said that the leading country in the world which uses eco-friendly systems for the motor vehicles is New Zealand. The lowest environmentally polluted country in the world is also New Zealand. “The fact that New Zealand uses vehicles made in Japan is also well known. In that country there is no limitation on the period of usage for imports of vehicles. But, stringent emission control systems are followed and conditions of vehicles are meticulously checked before registering vehicles.
In New Zealand 10 year old Japanese vehicles are also registered after following strict inspections on emissions and conditions of vehicles. Although New Zealand is a rich developed country, these 10-year old vehicle import systems are followed to save their foreign exchange reserves,” Mr. Merenchige said.
The association proposed that vehicles aged seven years or more with Euro standard 4 should be allowed to be imported to the country.