Used BEATS OUT new

Customs reports stronger pre-owned sales in first quarter

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Members of the Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association (JUCDA) had something to cheer about at their 2013 annual general meeting last Tuesday evening, as Commissioner of Customs Major Richard Reese reported a stronger performance by used over new cars.

So there was a spatter of applause in the Port Antonio suite of The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston, as Reese spoke about the 2013 first quarter (April to June) activity. However, with a number of new-car dealers currently holding sales or having staged short-term sales recently, the positions may well be reversed soon.

Reese was one of the guest speakers in the meeting's public session. The private session included the election of officers, and Lynvale Hamilton of Auto Channel was returned as president, Errol Brown elected vice-president, and Charmaine Lee of Crystal Motor Sales the secretary/ treasurer. The directors of the organisation are Errol Rose (JE&S Auto Brokers), Kern Francis (GK Motors), Gordon Baldie (Cars to Go) and Tariq Malik (Carland).

IMPORTANT TO ECONOMY

The used-car sector's importance to the economy was emphasised repeatedly during the meeting's public session, Reese pointing out that motor vehicles are the third-highest revenue earner for Customs, behind petroleum and cigarettes, in that order. Minister of state in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, reported that there are 221 certified used-car dealers islandwide as of this month, employing about 2,000 persons. Earlier, Reese had confessed that the magnitude of the used-car industry came as a surprise.

"I never imagined the size of the industry, not only in revenue, but also the number of businesses and the employment factor," he said.

Ffolkes-Abrahams spoke extensively to the planned logistics hub, including the role the used-car industry can play, but there was another take on business from Donna Newman. Newman, a technical specialist at the Tax Administration of Jamaica (TAJ), spoke about tax compliance - or the lack of it - in general and the used-car sector's place in that.

Newman said that looking through the list of used-car dealers, the proportion of persons filing and paying taxes has been "disappointing". This is especially so for the General Consumption Tax. So only about 50 per cent of the used-car dealers actually file returns and make payments.

The reasons she cited for non-compliance, among them uncertainty about the procedure, were not specific to the used car business. And neither is the practice of double invoicing - presenting the authorities with one figure and having another on a next document - but it is certainly practised in the used-car business.

Newman also encouraged the JUCDA members to keep better records, which will help significantly with tracking income and expenses. In some cases, she said, cars may be listed as having been imported when they are actually sitting on the lots, unsold.