Used car buyers could be vulnerable, consumers body officer says

How risky is a used car purchase?

The change in official policy position on used car imports some years ago may have created a window of vulnerability that increases the risk of consumers being sold defective vehicles, Consumer Affairs Officer at the Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission Clifford Zammett has said.

“In a sense some consumers may now be more vulnerable,” he told this newspaper.

Zammett explained that during the 1990s, there had been an adjustment to the regulations governing the importation of vehicles into the country. He explained that local motor dealers had lobbied government and that the lobby had resulted in a change in the regulations that allowed for the importation of used cars, as long as they complied with a certain age limit.

“Before that there was a specific requirement that cars be reconditioned so that what the change in the regulations meant was