Secretary to the Tema Car Dealers Association, Odeneho Kofi Asamoah, has revealed that a majority of cars on the Ghanaian roads are what we call junk vehicles or cars with salvaged titles.
A salvaged car is, to put it simply, a vehicle that has a salvage title. A salvaged car at some point in the vehicle’s history may have been damaged in an accident or flood.
According to him, most Ghanaians prefer these cars because they beat the cost of acquiring a brand new car and fall within their budget. He argues most salvaged cars imported from Canada and America to the country are ‘neat’.
“90 percent of cars used in Ghana are salvaged cars. Most of these have minor damages which are easily repaired. You can prove to an interested customer how good the car is after repairs by giving the person the chassis number of the car. When this number is inputted into a search engine, it will bring up the condition of the car before it was imported from Canada or the USA,” he shared.
The businessman who cherishes quality also revealed there are policies in the country that prevents importers from bringing in completely salvaged cars into the country.
Advising Ghanaians on things to look out for when purchasing a car on the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun as part of its Automobile and Road Safety Month series throughout the months of November and December, he added, “It is safe to use salvaged cars which have been worked on and reinforced in Ghana. Upon purchase of these salvaged cars from any licensed automobile dealer, one has to send it for pre-registration at a private DVLA agent. These agents run the car through a series of tests before you can take the car to the DVLA for registration.”
Should the car fail the tests at the private DVLA agent, it is regarded as unsafe to use immediately but if passed as safe for use, the new car owner can rest assured of the quality.
Currently, it seems the majority of cars driven on Ghana’s highways are mostly salvaged cars imported at cheap costs.
According to data available from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division, in 2019, over one million vehicles were imported into the country; representing an average of 100,000 cars per year. Out of this figure, 80% were second-hand vehicles.
Currently, importers of overaged cars pay penalties of between 5 and 100% of the total cost, insurance, and freight.
However, the growing demand for salvaged cars has led to an increase in sales for players in the automobile and garage industries.
