Trade Minister to meet foreign-used car dealers Wednesday

TRADE Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, last Tuesday, told the Senate that she intended to meet with the leadership of the Automobile Dealers Association this week over their concerns about the foreign-used car industry even as she noted their inability to meet the quotas given for the import of such vehicles.

Contacted for comment, the association's head, Visham Babwah, confirmed the meeting was set for Wednesday afternoon.

Last Tuesday, in responding to a motion by UNC Senator Wade Mark to explain why there was a consistent reduction in the quotas of foreign-used cars allowed into the country, Gopee-Scoon said dealers had not been able to sell or bring in the allowed amount over the past four years.

She said in 2021 foreign used car dealers were only able to bring in 29 per cent of the allowed quota, importing 2,292 vehicles out of a quota of 7,974.

In 2020, the quota was 13,500 vehicles, but dealers had only brought in 6,413 cars – 48 per cent of the quota.

In 2019 foreign used car dealers imported 9,742 cars out of a 13,215 quota – 74 per cent of the amount of cars allowed.

In 2018 the number of cars approved for importation was 12,950 vehicles and the number of vehicles imported was only 60 per cent of the quota – 7,800.

“So there is no concern about the quota being inadequate. There ought not to be,” Gopee-Scoon said.

Mark said in 1999 when the initiative to import foreign used cars was implemented under a Panday-led UNC, the age limit for cars was five years. Under a PNM administration in 2007, the age limit was reduced to four years and today, the age limit is three years because of fiscal measures put in place in the 2021-2022 budget.

“This government seems to be bent on destroying the used car market in favour of their friends in the new car market. What we are calling for is a level playing field,” he said.

Gopee-Scoon responded, saying that the reduction in the age limit of foreign used cars was due to commitments to protecting the environment and reducing leakage in foreign exchange.

“One always has to remember the commitment that this government and several governments across the globe made in at the world summit of climate change in 2021 (COP 26) and one of the main goals in this global effort is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transform into sustainable low-carbon economies by 2030. This is one of the reasons why we came up with the fact that it is absolutely necessary that we have vehicles that would have cleaner or no emissions at all.

“You would find in a five or six-year-old vehicle you would have emissions that would pollute the atmosphere. So the environmental aspect is always a concern.”

Two weeks ago, president of the Automobile Dealers Association Babwah and vice-president Rhondall Feeles delivered letters to the offices of the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Finance challenging policies on the importation of foreign used vehicles and tax exemptions of electric and hybrid vehicles into the country, after a motorcade of car dealers went from Grand Bazaar to Port of Spain.

The letter said, “The foreign used car industry was created to provide a social balance and correct the social inequity of one person being able to afford a car while others are unable to.

“However, based on the policy that currently exists and regulates the foreign-used car industry, it will be challenging for the lower- and middle-class consumer to obtain or purchase a vehicle within the range with which they are financially able to do so."

Gopee-Scoon said both Babwah and Feeles were invited to a meeting to discuss concerns. She said the meeting would be held this week.