Over the last four years, the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (Sambra) has applied substantial resources to ensure that members of the public, used car dealers, banks and others involved in the purchase and sale of used vehicles can protect themselves against the purchase of a previously written-off vehicle.
Richard Green, the national director of Sambra, a proud association of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation, said since the South African Insurance Association and the Insurance Crime Bureau had eventually agreed to publish the VIN numbers of all previously written-off vehicles on a write-off register or vehicle salvage database as it is known in the industry, they are now moving forward with a vehicle write-off conference at Emperors Palace on May 19 for all interested parties.
“It is very important we maintain the momentum to urgently provide consumers with the information necessary to protect themselves against the purchase of one of these vehicles. This has come into sharp focus with water-damaged vehicles as a result of the recent flooding in certain parts of South Africa, possibly finding their way into the used market as Code 2 vehicles after having been written off by an insurer,” he said.
Green noted that while the publication of these VIN numbers will immediately protect consumers, there will be an initial adjustment phase for all other businesses associated with the sale, financing and insuring of these written-off vehicles.
The Sambra conference seeks to inform on and discuss the very real issues that will result from the publication of these VIN numbers and in doing so create a platform for future engagements among the various private and government institutions that will be involved and affected.
At the conference, Sambra will also present information and visual material that will leave the audience in no doubt of the serious and often life-threatening repairs carried out on these vehicles, which can be bought by anyone at physical or online salvage yard auctions and then sold to uninformed and unsuspecting purchasers.
“The situation has been left unchecked for far too long now and impacts so many facets of the business chain. Besides the direct threat of safety to the occupants of these vehicles, once financed and insured, both the bank and insurer involved are also potentially exposed to unnecessary insurance claims if the vehicle is only later found to have been written off. Banks, too, are left with a vehicle that has a capital value far lower than the financed amount,” concluded Green.
Anyone interested in attending the conference will find further information on the Sambra website.
Source: Cathy Findley PR
