The authorities in Guatemala informed that the importation and registration of used vehicles that are seven years old or older, and whose engine does not start, will not be allowed.
The importer or assistant of the Customs Agent duly accredited before the Customs Service, may request before the customs authority, if deemed appropriate, the authorization to carry out a permitted activity whose objective is the corroboration of the starting or ignition of the vehicle, informed the Intendencia de Aduanas.
During the first seven months of the year, 26,188 vehicles were imported to El Salvador, of which 18% were new units and 82% were used. Second-hand cars are still in demand in this new business scenario.
According to representatives of the Association of Vehicle and Automotive Parts Importers (Asiversa), the demand for used vehicles has been maintained in this context of economic crisis, but sales have fallen due to the drop in prices.
The company "MICARRO SV" is accused of not delivering the vehicles to a group of consumers who had already paid for them.
The consumers "paid large sums of money" to the company Inversiones Latinoamericanas, S.A. de C.V., (COINVERLAT, S.A. de C.V.) and Cristian Javier Pineda Reyes, who operated the company "MICARRO SV", reported the Consumer Defense Office.
With the changes in the Manual of Procedures for the Inspection of Vehicles in force since November 6, the used units that are imported into Costa Rica and that have been declared in total loss or taken out of circulation in their country of origin, will not enter.
The importation is prohibited for registration of used vehicles established in Article 5 of the Transit Law such as, total loss, removed from circulation in their country of origin, unauthorized structural joints, altered odometers or right-hand drive, that have been declared in total loss in their country of origin or that do not comply with certain parameters that protect the final beneficiary as purchaser of the same in our country, explained the Ministry of Finance.
New models, better financing conditions and increased imports of used units would boost the sale of electric vehicles next year in Costa Rica.
Danissa, Q Group, BMW and Laudreni Auto, agencies in the country dedicated to marketing electric vehicles, estimate that between 2019 and 2020 their combined sales will increase by 45%, from 342 to 497 units.
In El Salvador, importers of used vehicles must subject the units to controls in order to determine whether they have been reported stolen in other countries.
The new border security mechanism came into effect on April 10, Salvadoran authorities said.
With the tax benefits granted to the import of electric cars, the number of units entering Costa Rica went from 40 in 2017 to 350 in 2018.
Last year, the Law of Incentives and Promotion for Electric Transportation came into force, which grants fiscal benefits to the import of electric cars, such as the exoneration of between 50% and 100% for sales, consumption and customs taxes, according to the import value of each car.
Arguing that the objective is to ensure that used cars into Costa Rica are in optimal condition, the new Customs authorities are tightening controls on imported units.
Importers of used vehicles in Costa Rica report that since the new General Director of Customs took office in January this year, is promoting a new guideline that generates uncertainty in the sector.
Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua are the Central American markets which reported reductions in sales of new and used vehicles during 2018.
According to figures from the Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica, from January to November 2018 imports of new vehicles totaled 31,008 units, and used vehicles 17,134 units, registering falls of 12% and 23% respectively compared to the first eleven months of 2017.
In Costa Rica, the government approved a decree that exonerates from the payment of the selective consumption tax to second-hand electric cars that are 5 or less years in service.
To encourage the use of electric vehicles in the country, the Alvarado administration signed the Executive Decree 41426-H-MINAE-MOPT, which grants a fiscal benefit to second-hand electric vehicles whose antiquity is equal to or less than 5 years from the year of its model.
From January to June of this year 35,157 new and used vehicles came into the country, registering a fall of 17% compared to the first half of 2017.
According to figures from the Ministry of Finance, between the first half of this year and the same period in 2017, the number of new vehicles imported into the country went down by 14%, going from 28,203 units to 24,395.
During the first semester of the year the sale of 108,000 new vehicles was recorded, well above the 67,000 used units sold in the same period.
According to figures from the Superintendency of Tax Administration, between January and June 2017 and the same period of this year, sales of new vehicles went up by 28%, rising from 84,075 units to 107,949 units.
Entrepreneurs in the sector have stated that the phenomenon affects Costa Rica exclusively, since at the global level prices of automobile sales are maintaining an upward trajectory.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance in Costa Rica, 5,835 new and used units came into the country in the first five months of the year, which represents a 16% drop compared to the same period in 2017.
Up to December 2017, 45% of the vehicles circulating in countries in the region were automobiles, and 13% were light load units.
Data from the report "Vehicular Fleet in Central America", compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData, details the different characteristics of the vehicles that transit the streets of Central American countries.
The union of the sector reported that in 2017 the country bought 99,316 vehicles, 75% of which are used and the remaining 25% corresponded to new units.
According to the Association of Dealers of Vehicle Manufacturers (Acofave), the behavior that has been recorded in the Dominican market is explained by the high tax burden to which new vehicles are subject, which ranges between 50% and 60%.