LESSORS OF CARS

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32252, 21 March 1970, Page 21

LESSORS OF CARS

Dealers Seek Licensing

Financing the $6OO difference between a car he was trading in and a car he wished to buy would have cost an Auckland man $lB9O over three years under a carleasing firm’s quotation, the president of the Auckland branch of the Licensed Motor Vehicle Dealers’ Association (Mr R. Thoms) told the annual meeting of the Canterbury branch this week. After hearing Mr Thoms speak on car leasing in Auckland, the meeting decided to support an Auckland hiove to have it made necessary for those leasing cars to be licensed as motor-vehicle dealers.

Although car leasing to private persons had become common in Christchurch, it was a considerable problem in Auckland, Mr Thoms said. The Department of Industries and Commerce would not comment or act on the leasing of cars, and had not even ruled if it was legal or illegal. The vice-president of the Canterbury branch of the association (Mr D. Nichols) said after the meeting that the branch was most concerned about irresponsible leasing to private persons, and it seemed obvious that many firms were using leasing as a way to circumvent the present restrictive hire-pur-chase regulations. However, he said, the association was not against “pure” leasing as far as business people were concerned.