What used car buyers need to know to avoid buying 'death traps'

The South African Motor Body Repairers' Association (Sambra) has called on the government to introduce a law that legislates the code status of used cars, allowing consumers to buy pre-owned vehicles with confidence. The association says it would prevent previously written off, and potentially unsafe, cars finding their way back onto the market.

Adding legislation to define and legislate the code status of vehicles which can be uploaded and housed on the existing Electronic National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) is potentially the only way to manage the historical record of a vehicle and open this information to the entire car parc and not just the 30% insured segment of the vehicle population, said Sambra chair Dev Moodley.

Sambra had for years lobbied for the South African Insurance Association (Saia) to make its vehicle salvage data (VSD) information available, as well as a publicly accessible write-off register in the form of a VIN check which consumers could access to make informed decisions before buying a used car.

It was to help mitigate consumers unwittingly buying potential death traps that had been severely damaged in accidents and returned to the road. Insurers routinely write off vehicles deemed uneconomical to repair and these vehicles are sold on auction. Some of these vehicles are bought by dubious repairers and sold to unsuspecting buyers as code 2 (the description for a used car) instead of being reclassified as code 3 (rebuilt). Some vehicles have serious defects and the purchaser had no way of checking the history.

In September 2023 Saia made available a VIN Look-Up tool which is free to members of the public, but does not list code 2 vehicles that had been deemed uneconomical to repair. This means potential buyer of a used car can't check on the website if a vehicle is too uneconomical to repair as a consequence of an accident.

The other problem is these cars are not repaired and are sold on and can be bought by hijacking syndicates who rebirth them under new identities. The VIN and engine numbers on the stolen or hijacked vehicle are changed and replaced by the written off vehicle’s papers and the scrapped licence plates are used on the stolen car.

“Lack of access to the complete history of a vehicle from cradle to grave is hindering efforts by industry players to establish transparency and disclosure in the market,” said Moodley.

“For years Sambra has been lobbying for an open and transparent VSD to be made available to not only the public but all stakeholders including dealers, banks and insurers. We are concerned that efforts to resolve the problem are only focusing on one element of the value chain. Efforts should be focused closer to the source so informed decisions can be made and a full life history of a vehicle can be checked.”

Chris Prinsloo, an independent specialist, said as soon as a vehicle comes off the assembly line and is wholesaled to a dealer, a record needs to be kept that spans across the retail chain so further down the line any new purchaser or financier or insurer will have access to the information, including the accident history, to accurately value the vehicle and prevent previously written off, and potentially unsafe, vehicles finding their way back onto the market.

The VIN Look-up Tool is a good start but without all vehicle data is not as effective as it could otherwise be, nor are the eNaTIS records complete, said Sambra. 

There is an opportunity for South Africa to look what is working best around the world.

Brandon Cohen, chair of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (Nada), agrees, saying the motor industry, in its welcome to the new minister of transport Barbara Creecy, flighted the idea of legislating the codes.

From an implementation perspective, one could look at following the UK model where the vehicle codes are legislated (from new to used to insurance write-offs to irreparable vehicles). Write-off categories are also legislated for vehicles, for example:

• a code A cannot be repaired and the entire vehicle needs to be crushed.
• a code B cannot be repaired. The body shell has to be crushed but you can salvage other parts
• a code N where the vehicle can be repaired after non-structural damage so you can use the vehicle again provided it is repaired to a roadworthy condition.

“Not only is this approach transparent but it will ensure information is available at the correct time to the relevant body in the value chain — whether that be a bank, insurer, motor body repairer, dealer and/or end customer,” said Moodley

“It will prevent the current scenario where written-off cars that have been poorly repaired are being refinanced and reinsured in many cases and consumers are being sold these vehicles without the correct information.”