Consumer protection against car dealers

For everything that can help us understand Thailand's "climate" like culture, customs, habits and beliefs of the native population of Siam. Anything else useful for travel and emigration to Thailand, immigration laws, visas etc. is welcome too.
newsclip
Korat-Isaan-Forum-Gast

Consumer protection against car dealers

Ungelesener Beitragvon newsclip » Sa Feb 02, 2008 11:27 am

CONSUMER PROTECTION / DETAILED RECEIPTS

New regulations seek to protect public from dishonest car dealers

A new regulation compelling used car dealerships to provide detailed receipts when they sell their vehicles has been introduced to help protect buyers from unscrupulous dealers.

Rasamee Vistavet, secretary-general of the Consumer Protection Board (CPB), met representatives of used car traders yesterday, urging them to comply with the new regulation.

Under the new rule, which came into effect on Jan 1, the receipt must contain information about the dealership, the purchase price, payment documents and the date of ownership transfer. The receipt must also include details of the vehicle, including model, manufacturing date, colour, mileage and ownership records.

The information will make it easier for potential buyers to find out about any modifications that may have been made to the vehicle and if it was ever involved in an accident, Ms Rasamee said.

Car dealers who do not comply with the law face one-year imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 100,000 baht.

Ms Rasamee said attempts to better regulate used car dealers stemmed from consumer complaints of deception in various forms, such as hiding vehicles' defects, lying about the year of manufacture, forged registration papers and problems involving transfer of ownership.

The new regulation will complement the CPB's previous announcement on used car labelling, which took effect in September last year. The rule requires used car dealers to use printed labels to display the history and detailed information of any vehicles for sale.

Under the regulations, used car labels must contain 21 specific details, including the vehicle registration date and number, chassis number, engine number, engine size, vehicle brand, engine brand, colour, type of vehicle, fuel type, the last owner, manufacturer, distributor, location of manufacturer or distributor, manufacturing date and price.

The label must be positioned in a clearly visible place such as the windshield, and information must be printed in a font size no smaller than 1 cm in height.

Violators face a six-month jail term and/or a maximum of 50,000 baht fine.

Ms Rasamee said an inspection of 1,827 used car dealerships between Sept 12, 2007 and Jan 25, 2008 found all them seemed to have attempted to comply with the new directions. However, only 66 of those dealers, or about 3.61%, met all the requirements of the labelling and were advised to make adjustments to their labels.

Ms Rasamee said she understood the new regulations would place more burden on used car dealers but pleaded for their cooperation for the benefit of consumers.

''In the past, consumers were left unprotected when they were cheated by dealers. From now on, both the labels and receipts will be important evidence for cheated consumers to use in court,'' Ms Rasamee said.

Bangkok Post Feb. 2, 2008

Zurück zu „Thailand Forum (Forum for Thailand Topics)“



Wer ist online?

Mitglieder in diesem Forum: 0 Mitglieder und 6 Gäste