Importers also slam Customs as used car row snowballs

Santo Domingo.- Representatives of used auto importer associations on Friday warned they’ll indefinitely halt imports to protest the Customs Agency’s alleged lack of fairness by encouraging new vehicle imports.

They said Customs is unfair when it charges a 10% tax on the value of a new vehicle, but as high 20% on a used one.

As an example Rafael Guzmán, Romer García, Obispo Lagares, Donald Sosa and Diógenes Calcaño cited that a 2013 Rav4 SUV pays a RD$247,000 tax, "if it’s a manufacturer dealer, but that same model, five years older, 2008, pays a customs tax of RD$228,000 when we import it."

They said that small difference in price prompts a buyer to opt for the new vehicle.

Quoted by elnacional.com.do, the business leaders said the situation affects 1,100 used auto importers across the country, which sell 50% of all used vehicles nationwide and represent around 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, adding that the situation has force some 300 companies to go bankrupt.

Major association also complains

The importers’ allegations come just one day after Dominican Republic’s use auto dealers association ANADIVE slammed the Customs Agency’s “lack of clear rules.”