USED CARS TRADERS MEANS BUSINESS
Used-car importation business is booming once more in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZF) just two months after a 2008 ban on car importation was lifted by the Court of Appeals. Very timely, now that brand new cars are so expensive and not that manageable.
According to some informants, seven shipments of at least 1,479 vehicles have arrived since the ban on the importation of used cars was lifted in late July.
TRADERS ALIVE AGAIN
"We were told [by traders] that business has been going back to normal. We hope that more people would be coming over to have a look at the new stocks here," a CSEZF officer in charge, once said.
The CSEZF personnel assured buyers of secondhand vehicles that the vehicles are "tsunami-free" in reference to the March 2011 disaster that swept through Japan's eastern shore and damaged cars and buildings.
Among the vehicles being sold in the freeport zone are Hummers, Porsches, Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs. The top sellers, though, are the vans and minivans, including older models of the Hyundai Starex, which sell for around P450,000 per unit.
BANNED YESTERDAY, BUT NOT TODAY
Remember that selling of used imported cars was once banned in July 2008 when the Supreme Court affirmed the legality of Executive Order No. 156 issued by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in December 2002.
ON ROAD SAFETY
While the prospect of owning a secondhand European sports car for half its current market value is enticing, the safety aspect of the conversion required to change it from right- to left-hand drive does make one pause on that idea--not to mention the fact that it affects the local car industry, more so the safety and welfare of it's buyers, thinking that there are accidents involving the so-called "converted" vehicles.
What can you say on the issue? are you in favor of selling second hand converted cars? or are you in favor of imposing another ban on car traders alike?
0 comments:
Post a Comment