Incorrect model year causing problems for auto purchasers
Purchasers of used Toyota motor vehicles could end up in a bind, losing time and forking out additional funds, because of discrepancies in the model year placed on valuation reports by appraisers.
A used car dealer who asked not to be identified, charged that valuators are increasing placing model year on reports that are different from those listed on customs import documents.
The dealer added that valuators were using information from a website, toyodiy.com, to verify manufacturing dates and other particulars on a vehicle when preparing a valuation.
He however argued that information on the site often ran contrary to details on Customs documents used to clear the vehicle, as well as data obtained from overseas suppliers and local Toyota dealers, Toyota Jamaica.
Erroneous model year on a report often cause undue delay in obtaining loans and insurance coverage while adding to the cost when purchasing a vehicle.
“Recently a customer needing a valuation had the date of manufacture on the vehicle stated as 2004 by a valuator when the Customs document said that the vehicle was a 2006 model,” said the dealer.
He also claimed that although Toyota does not approve the Website, local loss adjusters insist on using it to confirm manufacture date of vehicles.
“Valuation companies take it on themselves to endorse the site and use it as reference when doing valuations,” he said.
But while the peeved used car dealer pointed to valuators as the problem, president of the Loss Adjusters Association of Jamaica, David McKay, told Auto that issue was much wider.
He said that while the Toyota incidents might feature because of the questionable website, there was a proliferation of vehicles entering the island with incorrect model years.
“Thousands of vehicles are in Jamaica that are the wrong year,” said McKay.
According to McKay the problem starts at the overseas source where registration dates are often used instead of model year.
In addition, said McKay, the registration date and model year will differ, depending on the market.
“2011 cars are now being driven on the roads in the US while in Japan the model year for a similar vehicle is 2010,” he said.
He explained that when Government imposed the current cut-off date for importation of used vehicles, they were coming primarily out of Japan and the US.
According to McKay, the problem escalated when increased number of vehicles were imported from Singapore.
Emphasising that the fault was not with the dealers, McKay contended that they (used car dealers) relied solely on information supplied by overseas suppliers.
“What they were doing is depending on the shipping documents,” he said. “What has happened is that a number of cars are now coming in with the wrong model year.”
He made it clear that when valuators did their research the correct model year of a vehicle has to be recorded on a report.
McKay, at the same, admitted that the Toyota reference website was inadequate, but assured that his valuation company used it only as a starting point.
“I don’t use it as an end-all,” he told Auto.
“Don’t take for gospel what is on there, you have to know what you are using it for,” McKay advised.
The LAAJ president also said that valuations done by his company included both values in the case of duplicate model years.
McKay told Auto that the issue will be raised in future meetings involving stakeholders in the auto industry.
“We have bene in touch with Government about it over a period of time,” said McKay.
Aggrieved purchasers, in the meantime, will have to rely on the discretion of the licensing Authority, commercial banks and insurance executives to maneuvre the problem.