Taken from The Star Online.
The things that malaysians would do.
Sunday May 6, 2007
Watch out for ‘kereta potong’
By FOONG PEK YEE, ROYCE CHEAH and NG CHENG YEE
KUALA LUMPUR: Buyers of used cars, beware. You may be driving away in a “two-in-one.”
Vehicles that are better known as kereta potong (cut-and-join cars) are being passed off as the real thing, with all the necessary papers as well.
The papers allow buyers to even get loans from finance companies.
The Road Transport Department (JPJ) has long been aware of such unscrupulous and dangerous practices at vehicle workshops. Cars severely damaged in accidents, instead of being written off, are salvaged in a patch-up job and end up on roads again.
Insurance companies, in the race to gain a bigger share of the market, provide quick cover notes for the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to issue the road tax.
Despite moves to stop this practice, the “patch-ups” are continuing, and figures are on the rise.
Consider this – Puspakom detected 1,200 kereta potong from only January to March, and this could lead to a kereta potong record figure.
Throughout last year, there were 4,629 such cases detected, 521 in 2003, 2,368 in 2004, and 4,062 in 2005.
A used car industry dealer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said lack of regulations governing the sale of used cars in the past even led to some insurance companies giving the go-ahead for wrecked cars to be salvaged via the patch-up method.
“This is a cheaper way to compensate the owners, than if a wrecked car is completely written off,'' he added.
JPJ director-general Ahmad Mustapha Abdul Rashid, in responding to the “vehicle alert” situation, had this simple piece of advice to potential used-car buyers: “Check before you buy second-hand cars. Get it checked by authorised agents and also get your vehicle covered. If in any doubt, get it checked.”
To prevent the kereta potong from plying the roads, finance companies introduced stricter measures in 2004.
Used cars had to be inspected and cleared at a Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom) before a loan application could be approved.
Last year, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy expressed concern over the existence of such cars, stating that the ministry might make it compulsory for all used vehicles to be inspected by Puspakom first.
Asked whether the rising number of carjackings and car thefts were because of higher demand for car parts to facilitate “patch-up” work, the JPJ chief said this was merely an assumption.
The increase in the number of kereta potong being discovered could be because finance companies are making it compulsory for Puspakom checks on used cars, he added.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng, a carjack victim on March 28, felt there was something amiss with the increasing number of carjackings and thefts.
Lee was driving his three-year-old Honda Accord, a model popular among car thieves, when several men armed with daggers forced him out of his car.
“It was a frightening experience,'' he recalled.
He urged the police to conduct thorough investigations to nip the kereta potong menace in the bud.
“They should ask the buyer where he bought the car.
“The police can then zero in on the car dealer or the individual who owned the car before, and get to the root of the matter
Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the authorities should examine “all possibilities and probabilities” in assessing the rising number of carjackings and thefts.
A General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) official, when contacted, said the industry did not condone any cut-and-join method of vehicle repair.
“PIAM-approved repairers are strictly prohibited from engaging in such activities. Any repairer who contravenes this will be deregistered,” he said.
Patch-up jobs are also becoming more “innovative”, as a motorist who drove up to Cameron Highlands in her Myvi recently testified.
“I was overjoyed when I overtook a Mitsubishi Evolution, which is a turbo-charged vehicle,'' she said.
Then came the shock. “The front part of the vehicle was a Proton Waja. We were surprised at the slow speed of the car. Obviously, the car was a special type of kereta potong,'' said the motorist.
The kereta-potongmenace
Q: What is a kereta potong?
A: It is when one half of a car (front or back) is joined (welded) with another half to form a car. The halves usually come from two different cars that survived a bad accident or from imported “half-cuts” (one half of a car).
Q: How did this practice of joining two halves of a car start?
A: A few years ago, there was a lack of guidelines and it was not mandatory for inspections to be done on cars. The cars should have been considered total losses but insurance companies chose to salvage them.
Q: Why was this done?
A: To save money. The companies did not want to pay the full claims for a car that should be written off, so they gave the go ahead to “fix” the car. It is a cheaper and faster alternative to fix one half of a car to another than to fix the car’s bonnet or bumper individually.
Q: So is it harder to get away with it now?
A: Since mandatory inspections came into force in 2005, the kereta potong are being identified.
*Answers supplied by used-car dealers
The things that malaysians would do.
Sunday May 6, 2007
Watch out for ‘kereta potong’
By FOONG PEK YEE, ROYCE CHEAH and NG CHENG YEE
KUALA LUMPUR: Buyers of used cars, beware. You may be driving away in a “two-in-one.”
Vehicles that are better known as kereta potong (cut-and-join cars) are being passed off as the real thing, with all the necessary papers as well.
The papers allow buyers to even get loans from finance companies.
The Road Transport Department (JPJ) has long been aware of such unscrupulous and dangerous practices at vehicle workshops. Cars severely damaged in accidents, instead of being written off, are salvaged in a patch-up job and end up on roads again.
Insurance companies, in the race to gain a bigger share of the market, provide quick cover notes for the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to issue the road tax.
Despite moves to stop this practice, the “patch-ups” are continuing, and figures are on the rise.
Consider this – Puspakom detected 1,200 kereta potong from only January to March, and this could lead to a kereta potong record figure.
Throughout last year, there were 4,629 such cases detected, 521 in 2003, 2,368 in 2004, and 4,062 in 2005.
A used car industry dealer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said lack of regulations governing the sale of used cars in the past even led to some insurance companies giving the go-ahead for wrecked cars to be salvaged via the patch-up method.
“This is a cheaper way to compensate the owners, than if a wrecked car is completely written off,'' he added.
JPJ director-general Ahmad Mustapha Abdul Rashid, in responding to the “vehicle alert” situation, had this simple piece of advice to potential used-car buyers: “Check before you buy second-hand cars. Get it checked by authorised agents and also get your vehicle covered. If in any doubt, get it checked.”
To prevent the kereta potong from plying the roads, finance companies introduced stricter measures in 2004.
Used cars had to be inspected and cleared at a Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (Puspakom) before a loan application could be approved.
Last year, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy expressed concern over the existence of such cars, stating that the ministry might make it compulsory for all used vehicles to be inspected by Puspakom first.
Asked whether the rising number of carjackings and car thefts were because of higher demand for car parts to facilitate “patch-up” work, the JPJ chief said this was merely an assumption.
The increase in the number of kereta potong being discovered could be because finance companies are making it compulsory for Puspakom checks on used cars, he added.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng, a carjack victim on March 28, felt there was something amiss with the increasing number of carjackings and thefts.
Lee was driving his three-year-old Honda Accord, a model popular among car thieves, when several men armed with daggers forced him out of his car.
“It was a frightening experience,'' he recalled.
He urged the police to conduct thorough investigations to nip the kereta potong menace in the bud.
“They should ask the buyer where he bought the car.
“The police can then zero in on the car dealer or the individual who owned the car before, and get to the root of the matter
Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the authorities should examine “all possibilities and probabilities” in assessing the rising number of carjackings and thefts.
A General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) official, when contacted, said the industry did not condone any cut-and-join method of vehicle repair.
“PIAM-approved repairers are strictly prohibited from engaging in such activities. Any repairer who contravenes this will be deregistered,” he said.
Patch-up jobs are also becoming more “innovative”, as a motorist who drove up to Cameron Highlands in her Myvi recently testified.
“I was overjoyed when I overtook a Mitsubishi Evolution, which is a turbo-charged vehicle,'' she said.
Then came the shock. “The front part of the vehicle was a Proton Waja. We were surprised at the slow speed of the car. Obviously, the car was a special type of kereta potong,'' said the motorist.
The kereta-potongmenace
Q: What is a kereta potong?
A: It is when one half of a car (front or back) is joined (welded) with another half to form a car. The halves usually come from two different cars that survived a bad accident or from imported “half-cuts” (one half of a car).
Q: How did this practice of joining two halves of a car start?
A: A few years ago, there was a lack of guidelines and it was not mandatory for inspections to be done on cars. The cars should have been considered total losses but insurance companies chose to salvage them.
Q: Why was this done?
A: To save money. The companies did not want to pay the full claims for a car that should be written off, so they gave the go ahead to “fix” the car. It is a cheaper and faster alternative to fix one half of a car to another than to fix the car’s bonnet or bumper individually.
Q: So is it harder to get away with it now?
A: Since mandatory inspections came into force in 2005, the kereta potong are being identified.
*Answers supplied by used-car dealers
