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Vehicle sales: Importers on collision course
Private vehicle importers are up in arms against a state bank importing vehicles and selling them at cost price. A spokesman for the Vehicle Importers’ Association of Lanka said that the company – Peoples Leasing and Finance PLC, a subsidiary of the People’s Bank, was waiving bank handling charges and thereby was able to market its vehicles at a lower price.
“As a result the private importers have been affected and are unable to sell their vehicles. They are finding it difficult to pay their interest on overdrafts they obtained to import vehicles,” the spokesman said. He said they would request the Government to introduce a uniform system to ensure that the private importers too could sustain their business.
Peoples Leasing and Finance PLC Deputy General Manager Lionel Fernando said that since they were a state-owned company and obtained funds from the Treasury, the company was able to sell the vehicles at the cost price. He said the private companies were only looking at profit margins and not considering the interests of the customers.