The Southern African Movable Assets Registry (Samar) and the South African banking industry have set the wheels in motion for a major victory in the fight against vehicle fraud.
The landmark collaboration took root at a business breakfast meeting held at the Monarch Hotel in Rosebank on 15 November.
Samar allows manufacturers, importers, builders, insurers as well as the general public to control title and ownership of all movable assets. The system – developed at the request of banks and importers of yellow metal or earth moving equipment – keeps a record of various assets and covers the life cycle of such vehicles.
Photo: Tshepiso Mametela
According to project manager at Samar, Kyle Dutton, the system helps to create the most recent and reliable record of assets by providing updates to records as changes are made by various system participants such as financiers, dealerships and insurers.
“The most important outcome is that the system will help to reduce theft and fraud in double discounting, where people are trying to get two different financing deals for the same asset,” said Dutton.
“That’s why Samar exists and this meeting was about getting the banks, along with the other users of the system, to understand where all the pressure points are, but also how the system benefits everyone and that includes members of the general public.”
Dutton explained that the more assets Samar oversees, the better. He added that it would allow for all users to benefit greatly from using the system.
“Banks will benefit in that they’ll be able to prevent double discounting, manufacturers and importers the same. They will understand that when they are releasing an asset to someone, that this person hasn’t already got financing from somewhere else.
“We’ve got an app that allows for the general public to scan the label that’s attached to that asset and determine whether the seller is either the owner of it or attempting to sell what is essentially a stolen asset.”
Photo: Tshepiso Mametela
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