THE arrival of American-made "lemon" vehicles on Winnipeg lots and showrooms has caused some industry players to warn consumers to ask questions, get inspections and search out a car or truck's history before taking the keys.
CBC-TV reported Tuesday evening that more than 100 vehicles officially deemed as lemons by U.S. authorities have made their way across the Manitoba border over the past 18 months.
One local dealer said it's not as bad as it sounds. Stephen Vickar, president of Vickar Mitsubishi, said lemons typically make up about one per cent of his dealership's inventory. He said these vehicles have been marked for a variety of repetitive issues, from a battery dying or a radio that won't work to transmission problems.
"These vehicles are good vehicles. They're fixed to manufacturers' specifications. That's why the manufacturer will sell them. They stand behind the vehicles," he said in an interview Tuesday.
"These manufacturers have very good names in the industry. If the vehicles didn't meet specifications, they would never let them go back on the market."
Vickar said if would-be buyers have their eye on a particular car, they're provided with its complete history before they make their final decision.
"I have no problem selling lemon vehicles. I save the consumers thousands of dollars. It's not like it's hidden. They get the option to pick that vehicle," he said.
Bruce Giesbrecht, president of the Manitoba Motor Dealers Association, said Tuesday was the first day concerns over U.S. lemons coming into the Manitoba market had been brought to his attention. He said the MMDA has been focused on protecting dealers and consumers from buying the tens of thousands of vehicles written off in New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina more than two years ago.
He said part of the problem is vehicles move around so freely between dealers in the U.S. that by the time they make it to Canada, it's impossible to tell from the registration that they've been designated lemons.
"It's like laundering money only it's dirty cars that are being laundered," Giesbrecht said.
He said only vehicles that have been written off in a collision, and subsequently repaired and brought back to market, have any negative notation on their registration.
"We're trying to get any vehicle written off because of hail, flooding or any other reason to be recorded on the registration. We're working on that right now with MPI (Manitoba Public Insurance)," he said.
Trevor Neudorf, sales manager at West Perimeter Auto Centre, a Winnipeg-based registered importer of U.S. vehicles, said he ensures any vehicle he brings north of the border has gone through a litany of tests and inspections before he closes the deal. He said he makes sure to run a check on each vehicle's serial number to ensure it hasn't been branded with flood damage, a salvage title (a writeoff) or bought back by the manufacturer.
Unfortunately, he said some vehicle dealers are blocking information on the title of particular vehicles when they come across the border.
"It's the same as in any other business. If a guy wants to be a crook, he can be a crook," he said.
Stephen Moody, general manger of the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan (CAMVAP), said people who purchase new or used vehicles in the U.S. or used vehicles in Canada that were first sold south of the border are ineligible for its dispute resolution program.
"It's very important that consumers who buy a vehicle in the U.S. do their due diligence and do all the checks that they should," he said in an interview.
The most crucial, he said, is getting a report from carfax.com. It can tell you if the vehicle you're considering has been in an accident, declared a lemon or had significant body repairs, he said.
"It's an excellent investment as part of your decision to buy a vehicle in the U.S.," he said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
Spend about $30 to get a carfax.com report on the vehicle you're looking to buy. It can tell you if it has been in an accident, had significant body work or been declared a lemon.
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