Importers Irate At Car Damage

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31052, 6 May 1966, Page 14

Importers Irate At Car Damage

Several Christchurch car dealers who import fully built up cars are up in arms at the damage and pillaging that is going on. In some cases cars have been damaged beyond repair, and others have cost hundreds of pounds to put right.

It appears that more expensive models are the main targets for pillaging and vandalism, and several dealers said yesterday it was not uncommon for expensive cars to arrive with “This is not a wharfie’s car” scratched into the paintwork.

Much of the damage appears to be done before the cars reach New Zealand and Mr R. J. N. Archibald, man-aging-director of one of the hardest-hit firms, said he feels organised gangs on overseas docks are responsible for much of the pillaging. One pillaged Citroen recently received had had the ignition key number written on a piece of paper and attached to the dash, where it could be seen from outside the car. This suggested organised rather than random pillaging. All Damaged In a recent shipment of six Citroens all were badly damaged, and all were stripped of such accessories as electric clocks and tool kits—one also had its spare wheel stolen. These cars were taken by rail from Timaru to Christchurch. Not one arrived at the railway yards locked, and in two cases the windows had been left open and the interiors damaged by rain. Mr Archibald said the situation was now intolerable. “We can get no satisfaction from shipping companies, who seem to be at the root of the trouble. They just couldn’t care less,” he said. The managing-director of Croydon Motors (Mr V. Neate) said his firm had had exactly the same experience as Archibald’s. “It is the groups charged with the responsibility of carefully handling this cargo that have almost no respect for it at all,” he said. “It is scandalous and criminal.” Mr Archibald said the slipshod handling by shipping

companies, pillaging and outright vandalism was probably costing New Zealand thousands of pounds annually in repairing and replacing damaged built-up cars imported into New Zealand. ‘No Responsibility’ “In recent months the situation has become appalling. We have taken the matter up with the shipping companies but have received no satisfaction. They will accept no responsibility for damage to uncrated cars.” Mr N. P. Archibald said the Auckland Jaguar distributor, at the specific request of a client, brought out a car in a crate at an additional cost to the client of £l5O. When it arrived, the roof of the car was found to be badly damaged. It was discovered a heavy crawler tractor had been placed on top of the car crate in the ship’s hold. ‘Few Complete’ Mr Archibald said very few cars seemed to arrive in New Zealand complete, and more and more were arriving badly damaged. His firm seldom received the electric clock, which was a standard fitting on each Citroen, and it was only infrequently that a car arrived complete with tool kit. Scratched Paint Some of the damage was straight-out vandalism —for instance the scratched messages on paintwork. For several months, too, most Jaguars arrived with the automatic transmission selector lever and the indicator lever on the steering column tom out. Where parts could not be replaced from stock the Importers, if they wished to obtain an additional licence to replace missing parts, must satisfy the Customs Department the parts were stolen before the cars reached New Zealand. “When you take the case of the Citroens we have just received from the railways, with

doors unlocked and windows open, it is obvious that we cannot prove the parts were stolen before the cars reached this country. In fact the situation is ludricous.”

Mr R. Drayton, the assistant manager of Carthy Motors, said since his firm had started having cars put on car transporters at the ship’s side, instead of railing them to Christchurch, the amount of damage had decreased almost to nothing. Recently, however, two cars were sent by rail. They had been loosely roped in a waggon, and the first time shunting was done one car cannoned into the end of the waggon and £5O damage was done.

“When we rang the railways they just laughed at us over the telephone. I wish I had had a tape recorder to record it They just laughed." Cars received by his firm were very rarely badly damaged, although most had some minor damage. There was quite a lot of pillaging and the mirrors were always missing. Japanese Cars

Mr Neate, of Croydon Motors, said British exporters and shipping lines could take a lesson from the Japanese. The Japanese cars his firm imported were handled with kid gloves. The Japanese watched them closely as they were loaded and unloaded, and on the voyage. Consequently they were always received in good condition.

When men from his firm went to Lyttelton to collect cars they sometimes saw watersiders sitting in the vehicles smoking cigarettes and throwing the butts on the floor. “If you speak to them they’ll just about go for you. The set-up at Lyttelton is hopeless.”

Mr R. J. Paterson of W. J. Scott’s Motors, Ltd., which imports Mercedes cars, said men from his firm went to Lyttelton and watched the cars coming off the ship. They even went on the ship, but were always “kicked off.” They had experienced a few instances of pillaging and the cars sustained a fair amount of damage. A particular problem was persons writing on the paintwork. “We are prepared to accept a few minor dents and scratches, but the deliberate scratching really gets our goat. Another problem is watersiders getting in the cars and looking through all the papers and handbooks which don’t concern them at all.”

Other city firms importing built-up cars reported very little major damage, but a lot of minor damage and petty pilfering of accessories, particularly such items as foglights, radio aerials, petrol caps, and emblems. The photograph on the right shows one of the damaged cars.