The Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association (JUCDA) has added another sweetener to the deal for potential buyers of used vehicles by partnering with Jamaica International Insurance Company Limited (JIIC) in offering discounted insurance and spa treatments to customers. It is all in a bid to make the industry more competitive locally and add an international touch to the service, Ian Lyn, President of the JUCDA told Caribbean Business Report (CBR)

“We’ve revamped the used car industry now,” Lyn said. “We have Scotia Representatives at each of our used car dealerships. The bank is there, now we are going to have the representative from the insurance company there so when a customer comes in to buy a car it’s easy,” Lyn said.

The partnership between the JUCDA and the Grace Kennedy subsidiary, was announced Wednesday night at the Rib Kage, on Braemar Road in Kingston. Winsome Gibbs, Business Development Manager, JIIC explained that under the ‘JIIC Premier Auto Policy’ clients who purchase a car from any of the used car dealers islandwide and are referred to JIIC will receive a 10 per cent discount on their comprehensive insurance coverage, in addition to any pre-existing discounts they may already enjoy. The first 100 such clients will also receive a spa treatment from Adam and Eve Spa. In the event that the car is stolen or otherwise made dysfunctional because of an accident, these clients will get the use of a rented car for seven days at no extra charge to them. She said the equivalent cost of a rented car for that period is over $40,000.

Sales representatives of the Used Car dealers will also receive $2000 for every comprehensive referral passed on to JIIC in addition to a spa treatment for the representative who refers the most of the 100 new policyholders to the insurance company. For every policy sold, JUCDA also receives $1000 from JIIC.

Ian Lyn describes this initiative as a “good turn of events” for the used car industry as it continues a drive to ramp up sales for the fledging local sector since the economic crisis curtailed spending on automobiles.

Earlier this year, JUCDA also announced a partnership with Scotiabank which saw customers of both entities receive a rate of 15.95 per cent on loans for both new and used vehicles, $10,000 towards gasoline and 100 per cent financing on a vehicle tracking system from Hawkeye. At the time, Lyn said he anticipated an eight per cent increase in income to the car dealers within the first two months, and 21 per cent improvement over the duration of the deal.

Another move on the agenda is to get a reduction in duties on the imported vehicles.

“It is certainly something that we are not going to give up,” Lyn said. “Lower duties on cars. If the duties are not lowered on cars and the industry stays stagnant then the government will continue to lose out on a billion or more dollars of revenue,” Lyn said.

“It makes sense for you to lower duties. In Jamaica we have the highest duty on automobiles in the world and we have one of the lowest GDP in the world. It is not fair. So when you buy a car in Jamaica you are buying it two to three times and its not fair. And there is nothing that the government is doing for the industry that would warrant them making 100-170 per cent on a car. On top of making that type of percentage profit on no investment whatsoever, for decades, all we are asking for now is can you please reduce it a little bit?”