More flood-damaged vehicles shipped in

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Two more flood-damaged cars have slipped into Auckland as licensed dealers pledge to disclose when they are selling such vehicles.

Early yesterday, dock workers unloaded a container that held a soggy late-model Subaru station wagon.

The car had been water-blasted under the bonnet but a Herald source said it was in a disgusting condition, stank terribly, and was lined with mildew.

A similar Subaru, also damaged, was unloaded this week.

"They're nice-looking cars but when you pull the carpets back they're just disgusting," the source said.

"Some poor bugger's going to end up buying them."

The Subaru vehicles are the latest in a stream of wet vehicles that have been shipped here after being caught in Asian flooding. Many are from the Japanese city of Nagoya and nearby areas that were swamped in record September rainfall.

Late last month, the freighter Kiwi Breeze unloaded 22 wet vehicles and another 10 were later spotted on a freighter heading for New Zealand.

Two licensed dealers have said that thousands of cars written off by Japanese insurers were being sold cheap at auctions there and shipped to New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

The Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute has vowed to take a firm line with any members who sell damaged cars without disclosing their condition to buyers.

Executive director Steve Downes said a dealer had to let a prospective buyer know all the important features of a vehicle - including its faults.

"Members have worked hard to lift their image and most operate their businesses with a high degree of integrity," he said. "A small group of unprincipled dealers will not be allowed to undermine the growing credibility of the rest."

The institute is trying to find out who has been importing the soggy vehicles.

Land Transport Safety Authority spokesman Craig Dowling said agents had been told to keep an eye out for the vehicles and to make careful checks on their safety.