Used car panels imported

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 8

Used car panels imported

The importing of used Japanese car panels could mean insurance companies will pay for some car repairs rather than declaring the car a "write-off.”

A Christchurch panelbeater, Mr Len Clarke, will receive the first container load of used car panels from Japan late next month.

The panels are being imported by an Auckland company, and Mr Clarke will open in Christchurch the only South Island outlet. Mr Clarke said yesterday that the panels were much cheaper than any available in New Zealand. “On one job alone it could save; $600,” he said.

This would mean that some Japanese cars requiring extensive panelbeating would be repaired rather than being declared a total loss by insurance companies. The claims manager for General Accident Insurance, Ltd, Mr B. K. Reid, said that the reasons cars were declared write-offs by insurance companies jjvere

“purely economics.” “In some cases it could make a difference, because it would make it worth while for us to pay for the repairs instead of scrapping the car,” he said. The assistant South Island claims manager for S.I.M.U. Insurance, Ltd, Mr L. R. Davies, said he was reluctant to make any comment on the panels until he had seen them. “We’re not sure of the quality of the parts yet, but if they are good, then we will be only too happy to use them,” he said.

“I believe that there are some parts which would cost about half the price of panels already available in Christchurch. It could well mean that we would pay for repairs on cars which ordinarily may have been declared a total loss.”

Mr Clarke, who has set up his own company to sell the panels to other Christchurch panelbeaters, was certain they would all be of good quality. “We’ve got parts coming from 1981 vehicles, which

are as new,” he said. There was a huge market in the United States and other countries for the second-hand Japanese panels, he said. Only top grade parts would be coming to New Zealand. A representative from the company was in Japan at the moment, checking the containers’ contents before they were loaded on the ship. Because of the big car manufacturing business in Japan, people there were encouraged to buy new cars and any car that was more than three years old was usually traded in for a new one, said Mr Clarke. This meant that there was a huge number of second-hand cars there, most of which were sold to the panel merchants for export. Mr Clarke said that there had been a lot of interest in the parts from other panelbeaters in Christchurch already. A lot of the parts had already been sold, and he was --Confident the rest

would “sell like wildfire” when the container arrived.

Most of the parts would be for the front part of cars, as “front smashes” were the more common type of accident, he said. He would be catering for the more common Japanese model car at the moment, until he had an idea of what the demand was.

“The supply is virtually limitless so it will depend on the popularity of the parts as to how many will come into Christchurch in the future.”

Mr Clarke has spent three years setting up the business, with the importing company in Auckland, Motorparts Group (N.Z.), Ltd. He had made three trips to Japan himself to see what was available. He had been in the panelbeating business for 27 years, so he thought he had a good idea of what panelbeaters wanted.

The national parts manager of Toyota New Zealand in Palmerston North, Mr M V. Peet, said yesterday that the imported second-hand parts were so cheaply be-

cause there was no “middle man” in the business. The Toyota company imports new panels. The introduction of the parts would definitely mean a reduction in business for the company’s distributors, but would not cut them out completely. “What they are importing are the more common car panels and parts, such as doors, bonnets, and bumper bars, but they will not have the more specialised parts which we have,” he said.

He was concerned about the quality of the parts, however. “The weather in Japan is totally different from ours, which is why their cars don’t stay on the road as long,” he said. The summer was humid, and the winter cold, with icy roads. It was common practice to melt the road ice with salt, which was extremely corrosive on car bodies.

Mr Peet said he thought there might be a rust problem with replacement panels fitted in New Zea-