Heels & Horsepower Magazine

Buying a Pre-Owned Car: What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get

For many South Africans, buying a car means freedom but many vehicles, which have been written off re ‘repaired’ and sold to unsuspecting people. Richard Green, National Director of SAMBRA weighs in on this illegal practice

Buying a second-hand car can be an exciting purchase and a good economical decision provided there are no surprises.  Typically, the reliability of a second-hand car is at the forefront of most buyers’ minds. Meanwhile, to others, the fear of purchasing a vehicle that was previously involved in a serious accident could be that deal-breaker.


Cars that have been severely damaged are often repaired and end up back on the road, but the quality of the repair job and the severity of the damage play a huge part in ensuring the safety and roadworthiness of a vehicle. 

There is no way of checking if a car has been written off previously in an accident

– Richard Green, National Director of the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (SAMBRA)

Richard Green, National Director of the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (SAMBRA), an association of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI) says the problem in South Africa is that there is no way of checking if a car has been written off previously in an accident making it difficult for consumers to access if the showroom-condition car they bought is exactly what it claims to be.

Green share a story of a customer who brought in a two-year-old Nissan into a SAMBRA Repair Shop in Bela Bela. With just 28 267km on the clock, the owner had no idea her vehicle had been in an accident previously and had been so poorly repaired that it was structurally unsafe. 

“The front body bumper absorber, which is a structural and stabilizing component in most cars, (and this case forms part of the front cradle panel), had been heated or welded together so poorly that the metal strength had been compromised.  This had resulted in rust developing in the panel – a sign of early metal fatigue. As it forms part of the crumple zone of a vehicle, the panel should have been replaced with a new part,” Green said.

There were numerous many other serious repair faults on the car too, but the consumer in question had no way of checking the history of the car. “Not only does this have serious legal and cost ramifications, but it talks to the safety of motorists and a growing pool of un-roadworthy and perhaps even stolen vehicles on our roads,” says Green.

If the South African Insurance Association would agree to make write-off information available buyers would be better informed

RICHARD GREEN, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MOTOR BODY REPAIRERS’ ASSOCIATION (SAMBRA)



“If the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) would agree to make write-off information available on a public register where the VIN of a vehicle could be checked; buyers would be better informed before making a decision to purchase a used car. 

Currently, write-off information is routinely forwarded to SAIA from all insurance companies.   SAIA then creates a Vehicle Salvage Data (VSD) system which contains information on salvage vehicles.  These are vehicles that have been deregistered by the respective insurers and thus declared salvage after policyholders have been indemnified of their motor claims. A vehicle is considered salvage by the insurance industry if it is written-off following, for instance, a motor accident.

Photo by Christian Buehner on Unsplash

By not making the information publicly available, SAIA is enabling the very two things they claim to be attempting to avoid.

– RICHARD GREEN, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MOTOR BODY REPAIRERS’ ASSOCIATION (SAMBRA)

SAIA however, argues that making the database public, would not only be unlawful, but would allow criminals to have access to the entire motoring insurance industry database of scrapped vehicle VINs, leading to a dramatic increase in false financing and insurance of cloned vehicles.

The reality however, is that “uneconomical to repair” cars continue to be bought by fraudsters and syndicates on salvage yards – complete with Code 2 papers. In many instances they are then poorly repaired before being sold to dealers and unsuspecting consumers who have no way of checking the bona fide history of their second-hand purchase.  The papers of these same vehicles are also being used to re-register stolen vehicles as bona fide 2nd hand (code 2) vehicles.

Consumers would be better empowered and enabled through the access to additional data on a used vehicle.

– RICHARD GREEN, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MOTOR BODY REPAIRERS’ ASSOCIATION (SAMBRA)
Photo by Oxa Roxa on Unsplash


“In essence, by not making the information publicly available, SAIA is enabling the very two things they claim to be attempting to avoid – criminal activity and an impact on the safety of motorists,” Green concluded.

 
TransUnion’s Kriben Reddy states that being unable to verify if a vehicle has been previously written off, is a significant problem as many vehicles are being cloned, especially in a consumer-to-consumer environment.  “Consumers would be better empowered and enabled through the access to additional data on a used vehicle. As it stands consumers’ access to additional information is limited,” says Reddy.


It seems clear the conversation is not over and there is merit for all parties to revisit a system that is clearly not working.

Soure: Automobil Magazine, RMI

Vehicle cloning is a reality: Part 3

  1. Never buy a vehicle without a NaTIS registration certificate. If the vehicle is financed, the registration certificate will be held by the bank and it will only be released if the vehicle is paid in full.
  2. Check that the information on the registration certificate and/or license disc match the information on the vehicle in all aspects. Check that all the VIN/chassis numbers on the vehicle match each other and the certificates and that it has not been tampered with.
  3. Check for spelling mistakes on the registration certificate and that it is not a photo copy.
  4. Never buy a vehicle advertised or displayed with foreign number plates.
  5. Never buy a vehicle that is registered in a foreign country – even our neighbouring countries. The probability of you being allowed to import the vehicle is very low. It is also illegal to ordinarily operate a foreign registered vehicle in South Africa.
  6. Illegally imported vehicles can visually be identified by, for example, models that are clearly not sold in South Africa, mirrors on the front fender of the vehicle, mirrors in the back window, labels in the side windows in foreign languages and wipers on the front headlights.
  7. It is strongly recommended that used vehicles be bought from reputable dealers. Although this is not a guarantee, chances are better that the vehicle you are buying from such a dealer is legal. It is important for dealers to protect themselves, not only from losses but to a greater extent from a tarnished reputation. These dealers normally check that the vehicles being sold are legal and have the knowledge to identify imported vehicles. It is also easier to hold them liable if it is found that the vehicle was illegally imported or stolen.
  8. In the same vein, it is strongly recommended that used motor vehicle dealers, auctioneers of used vehicles and even salvage dealers, do not purchase any motor vehicles that was registered in South Africa after 1 September 2012 without first verifying the microdots physically on the vehicle. The Second-Hand Goods Act, 2009 (Act No. 6 of 2009) makes it a requirement that second-hand motor vehicle dealers must record motor vehicle details in the prescribed register, including the microdot number read from the microdot on the vehicle. This makes the microdot information readily available to be verified.
  9. It is strongly recommended that buyers of used motor vehicles should insist; from the dealer/seller, on a microdot fitment confirmation certificate issued for the vehicle by a reputable accredited microdot fitment centre. For information on accredited microdot fitment centres near you, please contact Microdot Association of Southern Africa, DataDot Technology, Veridot and Recoveri Tag What’s Yours.
  10. It is recommended that financial institutions (banks) not finance; and that insurance companies not insure vehicles of which the microdot fitment and its originality has not been verified.

The golden rule is, if the deal looks too good to be true, walk away, because it probably is. Use your head, not your heart.

Vehicle cloning is a reality: Part 2

If you do end up buying an illegal vehicle, you will lose both the vehicle and the money used to purchase it when recovered by the police.

To prevent the cloning of motor vehicles and the use of parts from stolen motor vehicles, micro-dotting of motor vehicles was recommended and the implementation supported by Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) as early as 2003.

Microdots are disc-shaped particles, typically 1mm or less in diameter, containing a unique identification number. In the case of motor vehicles, thousands (minimum of 10,000 for most vehicle types) of these microdots are sprayed on a number of overt and covert places. It is proven that it is close to impossible for criminals to remove all the microdots. The microdots effectively provides the vehicle with its own DNA. There is a once off cost to fit microdots and no monthly payments.

The fitment of microdots to new vehicles and vehicles presented for police clearance became compulsory from 1 September 2012. Every fitment is recorded on the National Traffic Information System (NaTIS). By the end of January 2019, NaTIS statistics showed that 5.06 million vehicles registered in South Africa had microdots fitted. This represents more than 40% of the total live motor vehicle population of South Africa at the time and 100% of all vehicles manufactured and/or imported after 1 September 2012.

It is incomprehensible that microdots are not used by everyone as a standard to mark assets

The use of microdots to identify vehicles has become a standard practice within the SAPS and forms an integral part of vehicle identification and the investigation process. Microdots are central to the process of identifying cloned vehicles. It is however rarely used by motor vehicle dealers and other businesses to identify possible cloned vehicles.

It is incomprehensible that microdots are not used by everyone as a standard to mark assets and later identify possible stolen motor vehicles and other valuable items.

BACSA, with the help of the accredited members of the Microdot Association of Southern Africa, DataDot Technology, Veridot and Recoveri Tag what’s Yours, are currently training more than 2,000 SAPS Designated Second-Hand Goods Officers to enforce the legal requirements of the Second-Hand Goods Act, 2009. More than 16,000 SAPS members, mostly detectives, have already been trained to use the technology.

This article was first published by the RMI