It isn’t just about grand theft auto anymore. Criminals in Barbados have gone deep into the second-hand car parts business as well.
A Sunday Sun investigation discovered that many of the island’s insurance companies and even some garages have been purchasing car parts stripped from hundreds of stolen vehicles, and unknowingly putting them back on the road.
“It’s a serious concern,” an insurance industry source revealed. “It’s a situation where insurance companies are customers in the car parts business too. We have discovered that a lot of the car parts on the market now are actually parts from stolen vehicles. The industry gets people’s vehicles repaired and looks for the cheapest parts too, so they have found themselves in a very sensitive position. We have companies buying hot (stolen) goods in an illegal market.”
That source said it was embarrassing for the industry since they were already paying out heavily for vehicles being stolen, then turning around and buying illegal parts taken from those same vehicles. “When you think about it, we are paying for the car twice,” the insurance insider added. (BA)
Please read the full story in today’s Sunday Sun, or in the eNATION edition.
