by Donna Sealy

THIS ISLAND'S once booming used car business seems to be driving on empty.

Spokesperson for some of the reconditioned car dealers, Noel Euzebe told the SUNDAY SUN at least three of them have gone belly-up. While not naming them, he warned that others are tottering on the brink of closure.

He said they were "actively seeking legal advice" because someone must be held responsible for their losses as a result of about 300 cars still detained at the Bridgetown Port.

Euzebe said that in some cases the dealers had to pay the banks, rent and staff and were struggling to make ends meet.
"One or two cars" had been cleared, he said, but the majority were still there
because the bond the dealers were being asked to pay, as much as $975 000 in one instance, was too high and they simply could not pay it.

"That is the bottom line and we're hoping that something can be done about it. We can't pay that bond. They (Customs) know the men can't meet that," he said.

He disclosed that some of the dealers were "not in a position to proceed any further because they don't have any more money and even an extra $10 may kill them".

Euzebe said that he knew of four dealers who had been asked to pay exorbitant bonds within the last two days despite paying duties up front.

The issue of storage fees, payable to the Port Authority, which will run into thousands of dollars, also has to be dealt with, he said.

"We're tired fighting and we're frustrated. We're hoping to get an urgent meeting with the people responsible so that we can get this matter of storage organised officially as opposed to on a piecemeal basis," he said.

Some of them had approached the Port and had managed to get the storage
fees waived, but he wanted a blanket agreement.

Attorney-at-law Ralph Thorne who is representing some of the used car dealers said that he had written the Customs Department, but was not satisfied with the response.

"I've written to Customs and we have displayed goodwill and fair intent by making a further appeal to the parent Ministryof Finance since it is not our desire to rush to court on every area of dispute.

"I'm not satisfied with the quality nor content of the response from the Customs Department, but we will give the ministry a reasonable chance for its own intervention if we are to resolve this grave financial and commercial crisis."

Thorne continued: "Customs continues to demonstrate an appalling lack of understanding of theCustoms Act.

"However, we are quite willing to negotiate our way towards a common ground of interpretation."