Government Imposes Crippling Conditions To Import Used Cars

The file of importing used cars is still a public concern, and citizens talk in cafes, councils, and houses due to the stalemate in the car market for years.

Buying a new car has become an elusive dream and with the blurring of the procedures that will accompany the import of used cars, the government is still adhering to the old laws to run this file, which contains incapacitating conditions, which causes a disappointment among the citizens and prompted specialists to demand a reduction of fees and taxes on imported cars for the benefit of all.

The draft Finance Act of 2020 maintained the same procedures for the importation, which obliges citizens wishing to import used cars to pay 30% to customs duties and 19% as a value of the added tax,

This means that the citizen is obliged to pay half of the price of the imported car as a fee (about 100 million for a car that amounts to 200 million centimeters) and the maritime transport dues ranging between 12 and 16 million centimes, which makes the import of a used car impossible due to the current conditions, especially in light of the collapse of the value of the dinar compared to the euro, which requires, according to specialists, to review the current laws that are no longer in line with the same circumstances in which the previous procedures were formulated, when the dinar was expensive and the living conditions were better.

In this context, the head of the Algerian Consumers’ Organization, Mostapha Zabdi, said in a statement to Echorouk, that there is a need to reduce customs dues on imported cars to 15% instead of 30%, and exempting citizens from paying the value-added tax so that Algerians can import used cars at reasonable prices, especially since the car market in Algeria suffers from an unprecedented recession, because the factories were unable to meet the requirements of the market, which needs 400.000 cars a year instead of 200.000 that are produced by all the factories, making the liberalization of import cars with special procedures, the only thing that will satisfy the market and meet the needs of citizens.

Zabdi called for granting citizens the same privileges which importers and factory owners benefited from, by lowering customs duties, eliminating the value-added fee and calculating foreign currency at the bank price and not at the black market price, if the old procedures are retained, the import of used cars will become like a penalty for the citizen.

“The file of importing used cars exceeds the powers of the Commerce Minister because the government decision came in special circumstances that aimed at absorbing public anger and satisfying the citizen, and this is forcing the government to make more concessions for the success of the process”.

For his part, Youcef Nabbache, chairman of the Association of multi-brand cars dealers, called on the public authorities to reduce the value of customs duties that are imposed and estimated by the law in force by 30% of the value of the imported car, adding that maintaining the same levels of fees is unacceptable, and therefore government must reduce the customs duty or reducing the value-added fee, and use a lower percentage instead of relying on 19%.