DVLA And Car Dealers On Collision Course

Tension is mounting between car dealers at Tema and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) over registration of second hand or so called home used cars.

The car dealers accused government of allowing importers to pay duties on those cars but frustrating them when it comes to their registration.


Representatives of the Progressive Car Dealers of Tema who spoke to Chronicle said that for some years now, car dealers who buy vehicles from importers go to the DVLA, complete forms and after identification, are made to register the vehicles.


Today, the DVLA wants the importer or shipper to do the registration in person. This cannot be done because, according to the car dealers, some of the vehicles are sold to them by the importers through fax and other communication facilities after the bill of lading is received.


What is bothering the dealers is the fact that this law is not applied when duties on the cars are being collected at the ports.


The situation at the Tema office of the DVLA is such that only four people could register their vehicles in the past two weeks, after the policy was introduced.


Further investigations by Chronicle have revealed that on March 18, this year, the chief executive of the DVLA, Mr. Joe Osei Owusu, reference DVLA/AD/44, dispatched a letter to all stations under the caption 'Change of ownership of vehicles'.

The letter stated that, "It has come to the notice of management from monthly returns submitted to head office on activities performed at the various stations that some district officers carry out changes of ownership of vehicles though those stations do not register vehicles and are not authorised to do so."


It further stated that, "With immediate effect, stations which are not designated for registration of vehicles should desist from the practice of performing both duties of change of ownership and registration."


It reminded the offices of the requirements for vehicle registration and change of ownership, owner's photographs for registration, if the owner himself is registering the vehicle, power of attorney, agent's photographs, in addition to those of the owner if an agent is registering on behalf of the owner.


The Progressive Car Dealers of Tema claimed that people who purchased vehicles from them since the introduction of this new law cannot register them because they are bound to produce the actual owners who sold the cars, but they have gone overseas.


Unconfirmed reports were that the Accra office of the DVLA was registering without these requirements.


Mr. Joe Osei Owusu's phone rang several times without response when Chronicle attempted reaching him.