More soggy imports spotted heading our way

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Car sellers are shipping more flood-ravaged vehicles to New Zealand as road safety watchdogs vow to crack down on soggy imports.

The Land Transport Safety Authority confirmed yesterday that at least 10 vehicles damaged in Japan's September flooding had been spotted on a ship heading this way.

This comes a week after the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry found 22 soggy imports at the Auckland docks, off the ship Kiwi Breeze.

Two licensed car dealers who have just returned from Asia told the Herald that tens of thousands of soggy vehicles were appearing in Japanese auctions after being written off by insurers.

One dealer, who refused to be named, said dealers were hiding the origin of some cars by shipping them through countries such as Vanuatu.

He said licensed dealers had to disclose flood damage on window-cards when selling cars, but some would use false names to sell vehicles at auction - without the cards.

"What's going on in our industry now is totally wrong," he said. "We have to wake up and smell the roses, because this sort of thing destroys our industry."

Another dealer, from the Waikato, said there were 40,000 soggy cars in Nagoya alone.

"The rubbish I saw there was absolutely staggering," he said. "They're being shipped here as fast as the buyers are getting containers. They get them running, give them a steam-clean, then the electrics give out in three months."

The man said a soggy 1994 Mistubishi FTO sports coupe with 29,000km on the clock could be bought for less than $4000 in Japan and sell here for $15,000 to $22,000. "In three to six months it will be stuffed."

LTSA director Reg Barrett said the authority would look hard at wet vehicles because of safety worries, and the importers would be hit with heavy costs to certify them for sale. "We're advising all our agents to come down hard on the importation of such vehicles," he said. "Many have been sitting in salt water contaminated with raw sewage."

Mr Barrett warned used car buyers that they faced serious risks if they bought any vehicle that was yet to be registered.

The Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association issued a similar warning. Its chief executive officer, David Lynn, said soggy cars would be sold by illegal traders posing as private sellers through car fairs, newspapers and on roadsides.

He said anyone buying a used import privately could end up with a soggy vehicle and get badly stung. Many licensed dealers had been offered the cars, but only one was known to have imported them - not an IMVDA member.

LTSA spokesman Andy Knackstedt said MAF found 10 wet cars in Japan when checking part of a shipment coming here, and would check the rest of the vehicles when they arrived. He was unable to confirm rumours that shipments were heading for Napier and Wellington.