CHAIRMAN of the Auto Dealers Association (ADA) Kent LaCroix says new car dealers will cooperate with provisions in the regulations to the updated Road Traffic Act (RTA), which pertain to the sector, but are hopeful that the new rules will not be a “one-way” street.

“Any objections or concerns that we may have had, we have put it in writing. We don’t want to subvert any of the regulations, we want to work with it, but it must also be in our interest and not a one-way situation,” he told the Jamaica Observer.On Tuesday, Transport Minister Audley Shaw announced that new rules are coming for demonstration plates to enable better monitoring of their use by the Island Traffic Authority (ITA).”Anything that is being done illegally with it, we applaud the ministry for ensuring that that doesn’t continue to happen because people are using it for illegal purposes and we don’t stand for that — we abide by the regulations,” LaCroix said.He explained that the ADA has had some concerns with plans to limit the time of day when demonstration plates could be used. “That’s something that we have asked that not be done because it would negate the purpose of the demonstration plates as far as the new car dealers are concerned. It is one of the things that we use now as a sales tool. We can’t otherwise demonstrate a vehicle unless we have demonstration plates,” he said.

The regulations to the 1938 RTA (now repealed) allows dealers to be issued with demonstration plates which can only be used by the companies to which they are issued. “When it comes to customers, we are able to allow them to test our new vehicles with these plates. A certificate of fitness must be issued, and insurance, for the use of these cars. You can’t just take a car out of bond and put it on the road — the person [also] has to have a licence,” LaCroix said.

He noted that the plates can be transferred from one vehicle to another within the dealership, while pointing out that customers must obtain their own plates as soon as possible.LaCroix stressed that any use of demonstration plates outside of the regulations, such as reports of instances of taxis operating with such plates, is “utterly illegal”.”There are disreputable people who have plates and they’re using them for illegal purposes. I can’t think of anywhere that a taxi could legally have a demonstration plate, and obviously that demonstration plate belongs to a dealer,” he remarked.

Under the new regulations, dealers will be required to ensure that demonstration plates are affixed only to vehicles kept for sale which are being test-driven on a road, and are not used on any vehicle carrying goods.A dealer in motor vehicles or trailers will be required to pay an annual renewal fee for the continued use of any demonstration plates issued by the Island Traffic Authority, and where the business is being wound up or is no longer in operation the dealer must surrender those plates to the authority. Dealers are not permitted to transfer demonstration plates to another person, or they could face a fine not exceeding $100,000 on conviction in a parish court, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months.

At the same time, motor vehicle dealers will also be obligated to make quarterly returns each year to the authority, showing the number and description of each motor vehicle or trailer imported or constructed by the dealer and disposed of during each period.