Car certificates can stop thefts

Car theft and fraud could be greatly cut by police scrutiny of car certificates of inspection, said the Association of Vehicle Inspection Stations (AVIS) president, Philip Greaves at AVIS’ Annual Dinner on Wednesday held at the Valpark Chinese Restaurant. Greaves began by noting the frustration of private vehicle testing garages, set up under Legal Notice 197 of 1999 to biennially test vehicles older than five years instead of all vehicles being annually registered at Wrightson Road. Greaves lamented: “Our businesses have not been a success so far.”

But he said the certificate of inspection, issued by each inspection garage, could greatly assist police in cutting car crimes. Greaves said it was easy for a car thief to fool a police officer that he owned a car, by presenting just a driver’s licence and insurance papers. “But the certificate of ownership ensures the vehicle is roadworthy and proves ownership of the vehicle.” He explained the inspection certificate would specify the genuine number-plate of the vehicle and the name of its owner, which would be notably different to the details on a drivers licence and insurance papers fraudulently presented by a car thief. The inspection certificate, he added, itself had security features which made it very hard to misuse. “It’s very difficult to duplicate. The sticker is embossed and if it is peeled off of one vehicle (to fraudulently use on another) it will become defaced.”  Moreso, he said, the wrongful use of a certificate carried a $50,000 fine. The certificate could help police solve car crimes, he said.

“When the police recover stolen vehicles they read the inspection sticker to identify the vehicle inspection station.” he himself Greaves said had assisted police officers who had contacted him to solve a case of car-theft. Greaves revealed that inspection-garage owners had suffered financially because of the delayed implementation of the law which required vehicle inspections. Saying owners had been originally told to be ready for business by 1997, he moaned: “We started two years after that, paying bills all that time.” Blaming the delay on errors in the law, Greaves recalled their plight: “We had to find work otherwise to do. Our garages were not maintaining us; we were maintaining our garages.

“Most staff we had at our testing stations had to be laid off, and now there are hardly any more ‘testers’. The number of testing stations in the country is 73, and many times in the year there are 73 empty garages.” He appealed to the Government and Transport Commissioner, Nathaniel Douglas, to fully implement the vehicle testing programme. Noting predictions of more cars and more new roads to come, Greaves said: “Let’s help the Government collect revenue. The Transport Division is overworked. Let’s get roadworthy vehicles on the road and save lives,” he added.