There are strong indications that importers of used vehicles also known as Tokunbo have now resulted in the importation of accidented cars following the astronomical rise in the cost of imported second-hand vehicles popularly known as Tokunbo.
Importers of used vehicles said the cost of used vehicles have risen by over 100 per cent in the last six months as a result of the new policies on importation of used cars.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had in January 2022 introduced a new valuation system known as the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation system used for allocating standard values to all vehicles coming into the country.
The system, according to Customs, automatically determines the value of import duty that an importer is expected to pay on any imported car immediately after the vehicle is passed through a dedicated scanning machine.
Similarly, the Service also outlawed the importation of vehicles above 15 years old, insisting that such vehicles are overage and prohibited from coming into the country.
Reacting to the rising cost of used vehicles, the President of United Berger Automobile Dealers Association in Lagos, Chief Metche Nnadiekwe, alleged that there is a calculated attempt to prevent those in the middle class from owning vehicles.
