Has also stressed the importance of the used vehicle industry getting full access to the insurance industry’s database of accident damaged vehicles to protect consumers.
JSE-listed used vehicle buyer and seller WeBuyCars is considering investing in facilities to conduct mechanical tests on the vehicles it sells to provide this information to the consumer base in South Africa.
WeBuyCars sales director Janson Ponting has also stressed the importance and need for the used vehicle industry and consumers to have public access to the full accident damage database of insurers listing vehicles that were involved in accidents and declared uneconomical to repair and written off.
Ponting said a mechanical test on a vehicle is very difficult to do, but WeBuyCars can see the value it can provide to consumers.
However, WeBuyCars chief marketing officer Rikus Blomerus emphasised that mechanical vehicle reports for the vehicles it sells are part of “a future plan”.
“We went to the US to investigate and so it’s not something that is going to roll out next week – maybe in three, four, five or six months down the line because it’s so important to us,” he said.
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Vehicle Salvage Database needed
Their comments follow several articles published by Moneyweb regarding consumer complaints about vehicles acquired from WeBuyCars, and the accuracy of the Dekra reports for some of these vehicles, including the lack of information about vehicles that had previously been involved in an accident.
Ponting said the database of vehicles that were declared uneconomical to repair and written off is something that would be of great value to the used vehicle industry and consumers, but they do not have access to this database to check all the repairs that have been done to these vehicles.
He said this data is available, but it is not being shared with the industry or consumers.
The South African Insurance Association (Saia) in 2023 launched the first phase of its free public access Vehicle Salvage Database (VSD), which will help prevent consumers from unknowingly buying written-off vehicles and at inflated prices.
The first phase of the project contained the salvage records of rebuilt (Code 3) vehicles, spare parts only (Code 3A) and scrap permanently demolished (Code 4) vehicles.
Saia was scheduled to launch the second phase in December 2023 containing used (Written-off Code 2) vehicles, but in May 2024 reneged on a commitment made to the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (Sambra) to provide consumers with the details of these vehicles.
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Saia said it was determined that the most critical and urgent vehicle information to make available was for Code 3 (vehicles with structural defects that require substantial rebuilding), Code 3A (can only be used for spare parts), and Code 4 (must be permanently demolished), and this information is currently on its website.
It added that providing general access to Code 2 salvage records will “compromise those who buy these vehicles and safely undertake repairs to the manufacturer’s specifications”.
Former Sambra director Richard Green previously said the best solution that will most effectively protect consumers is to reclassify vehicles at the time the insurer decides to declare the vehicle uneconomical to repair and prior to the vehicle being sold to the salvage yards and then on to unscrupulous repairers and dealers.
“Unfortunately, insurers and salvage yards are making massive profits by selling written off vehicles in the manner they are doing now, so there is little motivation for them to change,” he said.
“Only public pressure will make them do so.”
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Dekra reports
Ponting emphasised that the Dekra report is a roadworthy report, not a mechanical check or full evaluation of a specific vehicle.
“We disclose everything we can. We are transparent. Even on the Dekra report there is an evaluation on the panels and photos on everything and we say if there is damage indicating an accident.
“But we don’t have access to that database and we would disclose it but the insurers protect that data,” he said.
Ponting added that the WeBuyCars website and banners in its warehouses state a vehicle’s roadworthy status as well as what the Dekra report “is and isn’t”.
However, Ponting admitted that WeBuyCars can improve its consumer communication because there is obviously a misunderstanding among consumers about what the Dekra report is.
“We can do a better job explaining it to the consumers because when they see a condition report, they think the vehicle is mechanically 100% but the average age of vehicles we sell is nine and a half years.
“Insurers don’t want to write off a vehicle as a Code 3. They keep it as a Code 2 because then they get a higher price,” he added.
“They pay out the consumer but then they sell that vehicle through a channel and then someone fixes that vehicle and then we buy that vehicle.
“It’s not a Code 3, it’s Code 2. But we don’t have a database to know all the vehicles [written off] and all the repairs insurers have done.”
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Ombud success rate ‘quite good’
Blomerus said WeBuyCars helps consumers more than it is required to by the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) “from a brand protection point of view”.
Moneyweb is aware of instances where WeBuyCars has cancelled transactions and refunded consumers.
Blomerus added that WeBuyCars’s “success rate” at the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa (Miosa) is “quite good”.
“It’s not like we lose those Miosa cases but we do understand the frustration of the customer with Miosa because of how long it takes, up to four months.
“We are selling in excess of 16 000 vehicles per month and when we look at the numbers, it’s not [a] large part of the people who are unhappy and we still monthly get recurring customers – there is some good word of mouth, they do buy vehicles, and 99.7% of customers are extremely happy with their purchase,” he said.
Blomerus said WeBuyCars constantly encounters people who are “economical with the truth”, especially on social media, when they experience a problem with a vehicle.
But he said it cannot state on social media that the customer has been lying or take legal action against customers because doing so would make WeBuyCars look like a corporate bully and scare customers away from buying from it.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
