The Central Regional manager of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Mr Lawrence Adom, has cautioned the public to beware of fake vehicular documents whenever they decide to purchase a car.
According to Mr Adom, many unsuspecting car buyers hardly pay attention to documents they receive when they pay for vehicles they desire to buy.
Speaking to the media on this development, Mr Adom noted that many people have fallen victims to scams associated with stolen vehicles from overseas, as well as those within the country, due to lack of diligence.
To help stem the tide, Mr Adom has advised the public to insist on acquiring genuine or valid documentations covering any vehicle they purchase, but not solely rely on just goodwill and cordialities.
He said; “Some people just walk into garages to buy vehicles and move out once they are issued with customs documents of the vehicles, without demanding receipts from the garage to indicate the transaction and authenticate same.
“Some people can steal cars from outside the country and ship them here to be sold to unsuspecting buyers who could later be arrested and put before court to face the law, so just be on the safer side and demand receipt”, he added.
Mr Adom reiterated that having the original documents of a car that has been bought from the garage or from a close acquaintance may not be enough in case of allegations of car theft and, therefore, there must be documents to indicate the transaction.
“Even if the person selling the car is abroad, the DVLA has a means to verify the person remotely, provided the person has a Ghana Card or any other official documents that can be verified,” he stated.
He, therefore, insisted that the garages must always have credible receipts that would be duly signed by an official of the garage, so that in case there is the need to do any verification about the transaction, that person could be reached.
Indicate the model of car on receipt
Mr Adom further revealed that some garages just issued receipts and had only the brand of the car stated without the model and the unique Vehicle Identification Numbers, or the unique chassis number which uniquely identified the car.
He said, “The manufacturers have assigned special identification numbers to every car they produce and these numbers are so important in the selling and buying of cars, but we don’t seem to pay much attention to them.
“For instance, you buy a Toyota Camry from a garage and the receipt issued only states Toyota Camry without indicating the unique identification number.
“The chassis number as indicated on the customs document must appear on the receipts as well,” he advised.
Implementation of Vehicle Registration System
The introduction of the Vehicle Registration System, which has replaced the manual system used in the past, he said, has sped up registration processes and cut out delays and hustles customers had to go through.
The VRS, he indicated, help to deal with crimes associated with car theft to protect both owners of vehicles and prospective buyers as well.
