adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
South African car dealers have started reducing prices of pre-owned vehicles mainly from Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom at Beitbridge Border Post as they battle to clear huge stocks which have been necessitated by low business in the last five months. High rates of import duty on vehicles at Beitbridge had also resulted in many people preferring to use alternative ports such as Kazungula, Plumtree and Chirundu where the duty is relatively low.
A snap survey over the weekend revealed that most of the car dealers on the South African side of the border have reduced prices by between $300 and $900.
On average, one needs at least $3,000 excluding duty to get a modest car from dealers on the South African side.
The dealers have reduced the prices of some of the vehicles to as low as $1,700 and $2,000.
Import duty for most of the second hand vehicles is charged at 96 percent of the vehicle’s cost price.
Major dealers such as Quest Royal, Wright Cars, Murree Motors and KDG started reducing prices last month to create space for new stocks from Durban.
Quest Royal Investments manager Hayat Hayat said business was very low as they are selling an average of 10 cars per day compared to 40 in the previous five months.
“Business is very low, hence we’ve decided to review prices in line with prevailing market forces.
“We’ve over 400 vehicles of different makes which we want to sell and create space for another stock which is already in Durban,” he said.
Hayat said they have resorted to running a series of promotions with a view of increasing sales.
A sales manager at another car dealership, Clemence Mabidi, said they were also reducing prices of their cars to levels similar to those that come at Durban or Tanzania.
He said some of them had ordered many cars towards the festive season in anticipation of brisk business.
On average about 200 vehicles arrive in the country through the Beitbridge Border Post from South Africa per day while between 70 vehicle imports are processed at the Manica Bonded warehouse on a daily basis.
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Florence Jambwa, said recently that since the beginning of September last year they have been processing a few vehicle imports coming into the country via Beitbridge border.
She said they were processing between 31 and 65 vehicles per day compared to between 32 and 133 vehicles per day in August last year.
“You’ll note that between September 1 and 14, vehicles imported and processed were 610, a decrease of more than 270 when compared to between August 1 and 14 when a total of 864 vehicles were cleared,” said Jambwa.
Online Reporter