As the fight towards zero tolerance for smuggling of vehicles into the country by the Federal Government intensifies, some motor dealers at the popular Berger automobile market have said that it is impossible for importers and clearing agents to pay 100% duty on their vehicles.
They also accused clearing agents as being the major actor in the act of shirt-changing Government.
The dealers who spoke to Shipping Position Daily during the week said that paying the full duty will definitely affect the price of the vehicle and that is why it is impossible to pay 100% duty. They also accused some clearing agents who handle clearing of vehicles of not likely to pay the normal duty, even after the importer may have given them the money.
One of the car dealers at the popular Berger market, who simply identified himself as Mr Innocent said: “It is very impossible for an importer or an agent to pay 100% on car duty before it will be released. If you pay the full amount, who do you intend to sell the car to? The prices of cars are determined mostly by the amount you pay on duty. Take for instance you paid N1million to clear a particular car; you will not like to sell the car anything less than N3million. Because if you add the money you spent in buying the car over there and the shipping plus other expenses, the price will go up because as a business man you will like to make profit. So what some dealers do here is to ensure they pay something into the federal government coffers so as not to cheat the government”
“Saying that most cars here were not duly cleared, I don’t believe that. Because this is a business and nobody will like his/her customer to come back tomorrow to ask for his money back. So every serious minded business man here ensures that he pays his duty to the government because it will be so bad to owe the government” he concluded.
Another dealer, Mr. Chinedu Uzokwe said that one of the major challenges that dealers are having at the auto market comes from the clearing agents. “The problem we are having in this business mostly comes from the clearing agents. Some of them didn’t pay the complete duty for the vehicle. All of us know that federal government collects 35% of the price of the motor from any motor which model starts from 2010 upwards. So when you now pay the agent, instead of the agent paying the federal government the full amount for clearing the car, they will short pay the government which will now warrant us to raise the price. I am telling you that the business has reduced because of the dollar rate and the increase in tariff,” he said.
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