Dubai introduces second-hand car condition certificate

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced plans to improve the regulation of the country’s second-hand car market by introducing a condition certificate.

The certificate will provide “important and historical” information about vehicles with the intention of preventing fraud or deceit when it comes to second-hand sales.

Information available through the service will include distance covered in kilometres, the type and validity of insurance, any instances of impounding, the type of vehicle, its owner and condition during annual testing.

However, this will only be available upon the consent of the owner, who must send a text to the RTA with a pin code for it to be released.

A customer looking to find out more about a vehicle can enter the chassis number through the www.rta.ae website.

If this information is available they can pay Dhs100 ($27) per vehicle to receive it.

“The service also covers imported used vehicles, thanks to an online link with some international firms such as the American CARFAX and the European AUTO DNA for providing information about vehicles exported to the UAE from American, European and Asian countries,” said RTA director of vehicle licensing Sultan Al Marzooq.

“Accordingly, we can furnish interested clients with information about any vehicle imported from abroad, rather than not locally only, against additional fees. However, the RTA is not concerned with details of some vehicles which might not be available.”

Analysts have predicted a rise in second-hand car sales this year as a newly introduced 5 per cent value added tax rate will be applied differently to used vehicles.

Read: The GCC’s automotive downturn

For used cars the tax will be calculated based on the difference between the original price paid for the car and what it is sold for. In contrast, the tax will apply to the full price of new cars.