Pengguna perihatin

JENNIFER Raman has a five-year-old car. She wants to sell her vehicle but there are no buyers. She still has a two-year loan to settle. All because Puspakom says the car is a "cut-and-join", now deemed as scrap metal.

Lorry owner Lee Ah Chang paid RM80 to Puspakom to check smoke emission and paintwork. He failed the first test. He returned for a second check and received the approval of the vehicle inspection specialist. Each test cost him RM40.

Three days later, Lee was hauled up by the Department of Environment for black smoke emission, and the Road Transport Department fined him for unkempt paintwork.

With Puspakom checks on all secondhand and commercial vehicles due to be mandatory from tomorrow, Pan Malaysia Lorry Owners Association president Er Sui See says enforcement bodies do not recognise the agency’s certification.

"Sometimes, three days later we receive fines for unkempt paintwork or black smoke emission. If we receive summons after a month or two, it is understandable," he says.
Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association president Datuk Ashfar Ali is equally frustrated. He says: "It is pointless to have Puspakom checks if they are not recognised."

Puspakom, established in 1993, has received a mandate from the Transport Ministry to check all vehicles, in a move to reduce the number of cut-and-join cars on the roads and upkeep the condition of commercial vehicles.

Puspakom director-general Datuk Salamat Wahid feels mandatory checks are crucial, with an estimated 50,000 cut-and-join cars still plying the roads.

Three years ago, banking institutions started requiring Puspakom certificates for vehicle-purchase loans, to ensure the vehicles they financed were not kereta potong.

However, of the one million second-hand vehicle transactions yearly, about 20,000 cars are bought for cash. There is no way for the ministry to know if these cars were kereta potong. After a year of brainstorming, a decision was taken to make it mandatory for all vehicles to undergo inspection before any transfer of vehicle ownership.

There are seven million cars, seven million motorcycles and one million commercial vehicles on Malaysian roads. All commercial vehicles are required to undergo twice-yearly checks for paint, brakes, chassis, glass tint and black smoke emission.

The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations says the mandatory checks are not infallible and will not eliminate the kereta potong menace.

Fomca’s fear is understandable. Secretary-general Mohd Sha’ani Abdullah says last year, a policeman sent his car to Puspakom for inspection when he suspected that the car he bought a few days earlier was a cut-and-join.

"After going through the inspections, the Puspakom officer approved his application. But when the policeman removed the carpet to show the welded part of the car, the officer changed his mind," he says.

Fomca intervened and the car loan was revoked.

Puspakom insists mandatory inspection will protect vehicle owners, and that the agency’s checks are indeed recognised by enforcement bodies.

"Sometimes, these vehicles are at borderline or use sub-standard diesel and the quality deteriorates within a week," he explains.

"The operators have to upkeep their vehicles always and not only during checks."

RTD deputy director-general Solah Mat Hassan says mandatory checks will safeguard consumers from buying unsafe cars.

"Above all, it will protect a new buyer from purchasing a kereta potong."

He adds that Puspakom will compensate those whose vehicles are found to be kereta potong after receiving the certification — but only if the car owner can prove the driver did not modify the vehicle.

Salamat says compensation will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

"We will have to determine if the driver is really innocent," he adds.

Those who fear they may be driving a kereta potong despite having Puspakom certification are advised to keep their mechanic’s receipts. They’ll come in handy when cancelling your bank loan.

But it can be difficult for a car owner to prove that the car has not been tampered with or modified, or that the modification was not done by the present owner, who has no inkling of the previous owner’s alterations.

Because of this, Jennifer Raman might have to continue paying her bank loan if she cannot prove she did not modify the car she now drives.

Even though Puspakom’s objective is entirely to protect prospective car buyers from dangerously modified cars, a simple mistake in certifying a kereta potong as safe would cost Puspakom its credibility.

Puspakom should, therefore, consider working with the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) to regulate workshops. There are 36 motor insurance companies in Malaysia. By regulating workshops, PIAM could direct its members to pay compensation to car owners after a reliable third party checks the vehicle.

At present, car owners are at the mercy of the mechanics who repair their vehicles, especially after a bad accident. Such a move would ensure mechanics do not weld the car illegally or use shoddy components, but compel them to abide by RTD standards, boosting confidence among vehicle owners and those to whom they may later sell their vehicles.

It is now up to Puspakom to prove its worth in eliminating the kereta potong menace, reducing noxious smoke emissions from commercial vehicles, coping with checking millions of vehicles, and winning the recognition of enforcement agencies.