…Says It’s Safer to Buy from Local Manufacturers, Distributors
By:ROTIMI ASHER
The National Design and Development Council(NADDC) has urged Nigerians to buy their vehicles from local manufacturers and authorized distributors to ensure they enjoy warranty, recall services and special service campaigns, if required.
The Director General of NADDC, Engineer Aminu Jalal, who made the plea in a statement mailed to Motoring World last week, warned against purchase of vehicles from grey importers, as such buyers would only be able to enjoy warranty and recall services from the original country of purchase.
“Modern cars,” explained Jalal, “have complex electro-mechanical systems with over 2,000 parts, some of which could occasionally be found to have design and/or manufacturing faults.
“To ensure Customer satisfaction and safety, Automotive Manufacturers have devised Manufacturer warranty, recall services and special service campaigns to replace/repair such identified faults. This is done through their authorized distributors.”
According to the NADDC boss, in Nigeria’s case, only about half of new vehicles are bought from authorized distributors, who also provide maintenance services (genuine spare parts and trained manpower).
He explained: “Others, who buy the vehicles from authorized distributors in other countries, called grey imports, import the rest of the new vehicles.
“These grey imports would have their warranty and recall services in their original country of purchase, not in Nigeria. The same applies to imported used vehicles.”
Engineer Jalal made reference to efforts made by Toyota Nigeria Limited last year to recall some vehicles fitted with potentially dangerous Takata Airbags, so as to replace their faulty parts.
“Due to the low response,” he stated, “Toyota Nigeria Ltd. will be further advising customers again to bring in their vehicles to take care of the issue and to ensure their customer’s satisfaction and safety.
“If you had bought an affected vehicle from grey importers, for instance, Toyota Nigeria would not have your information in their record, and so would have no cause to contact you.
“Meanwhile, the manufacturer would have sent information about your affected car to the dealer in the original country of purchase, who would not have any means of contacting you either.”
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