WeBuyCars clean up

USED CARS: PLANS TO PROVIDE BUYERS WITH MECHANICAL TEST REPORTS

- Roy Cokayne

SE-listed used vehicle buyer and seller WeBuyCars is considering investing in facilities to conduct mechanical tests on the vehicles it sells to provide this information to buyers.

WeBuyCars sales director Janson Ponting has also stressed the importance and need for the used vehicle industry and consumers to have public access to the full accident damage database of insurers listing vehicles that were involved in accidents and declared uneconomical to repair and written off.

Ponting said a mechanical test on a vehicle is very difficult to do, but WeBuyCars can see the value it can provide to consumers.

However, WeBuyCars chief marketing officer Rikus Blomerus emphasised that mechanical vehicle reports for the vehicles it sells are part of "a future plan".

"We went to the US to investigate and so it's not something that is going to roll out next week - maybe in three, four, five or six months down the line because it's so important to us," he said.

Vehicle Salvage Database needed Their comments follow several articles published by Moneyweb regarding consumer complaints about vehicles acquired from WeBuyCars, and the accuracy of the Dekra reports for some of these vehicles, including the lack of information about vehicles that had been involved in an accident.

Ponting said the database of vehicles that were declared uneconomical to repair and written off is something that would be of great value to the used vehicle industry and consumers, but they do not have access to this database to check all the repairs that have been done to these vehicles.

He said this data is available, but it is not being shared with the industry or consumers.