Automotive Art Motors is making it clear they are no longer dealing with grey market vehicles.
“Grey market” refers to unofficial or unregulated trading activity. In terms of vehicles, it involves legally importing or purchasing vehicles through channels other than the maker’s official car dealership or a recognised license holder.
However, a smaller player in the market, who requested anonymity, said any major local car dealership refusing to service brands they are authorised and licensed to service was asking for trouble.
Automotive Art general manager Jeremy Foster told the Saturday Sun they had not taken the decision lightly and that while the recent discovery of stolen vehicles entering Barbados played a small part in the decision, one of the major factors was a directive from overseas.
Protect
“That might have played a small role, but this decision, I think, was twofold. It was one, based on a directive from BMW about cars that are imported into markets for which they were not originally destined. And then, secondly, to ultimately protect the company from liability in terms of taking on a vehicle that is not supposed to be here,” he said.
Foster said they had been seeing many of the vehicle brands they represented on Barbados’ roads, which had not been imported by them. He said such vehicles could present a unique legal risk.
“They might appear to be the same model that we sell – whether it’s a BMW or whatever – but even if it’s a similar model to what we sell, when the vehicle gets here, there’s technical differences between what we sell and what was imported.
“And then we do not have the support from the manufacturer, or in some cases, the special tools and training required to work on that vehicle, even though it looks like the same type that we sell.
“When we take on a repair job or a vehicle comes into our service centre for a diagnosis on a problem that the customer is experiencing, technically speaking, we can then put ourselves at risk for taking on that liability, because we took the car in and looked at it and diagnosed the problem.
“And because our hands are now on it, a claim could be made that we now have some sort of responsibility over resolving the problem. We’re just not interested in exposing ourselves to that,” he said.
Automotive Art has taken out advertisments on more than one occasion in the Nation newspapers, which further explain the change in their policy as licensed dealer for vehicle brands such as BMW, Mini Cooper, BYD (Build Your Dreams) and MG.
A release from the company
stated: “Effective immediately, Automotive Art Motors will no longer provide any support for grey market vehicles. This includes all technical support, servicing, and warranty claims for vehicles imported outside of the official dealership channel.
“While exceptions for technical support may be considered on a case-by-case basis, these will require prior approval from the company before the vehicle can even be brought to the dealership.”
Supported
However, a smaller player in the market said he was “appalled” when he saw the release, adding it was not the first time a larger car dealership had tried to take that stance.
“It has happened before with [big] dealers saying they’re not going to deal with this or that particular brand vehicle, but it is their brand and they’re supposed to deal with it regardless. Whoever that brand concerns . . . once there’s a part a paying customer is looking for, or there’s an issue with the car and they want it fixed, the dealer should deal with it because it’s a brand supported by the international company [that the local dealers answer to],” he said.
Failure to do this, he said, could lead to action being taken against the local dealer, should someone take it that far.
“If you write or contact the international dealers, it’s something where they [the local dealer] can get reprimanded. Once it’s a brand that they [the international dealer] have, then the local dealers have to deal with it. You can write them overseas and tell them what is going on here and voice your frustration.
“It’s a matter that can get dealt with, but it’s just that a lot of Bajans don’t like to do them type of things, and that’s why these dealers here can get away with a lot of foolishness that they be doing. Also, I don’t think many Bajans even know they can take steps, so these dealers will do these things to people, and Bajans will just take it and just go along with it,” he said.
The Saturday Sun contacted Nassco, Caribbean Automotive Retailers and Courtesy Garage for a comment, but they either declined or had yet to return an answer. The team also reached out to the Fair Trading Commission and the Department of Consumer Affairs; both entities said they would reply at a later date. (CA)
