The South African fiscus is losing billions of rand in potential income in the form of taxes and levies, owing to the illegal importation of vehicles, says the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (Nada).

A total of 540 000 vehicles with foreign registration plates have been sighted on South African roads during the past five years using the Vehicle Intelligence Data System (VIDS).

This is a sizeable number considering the fact that the official vehicle parc in South Africa is made up of about 13-million vehicles.

“There are further shocking statistics related to the illegal importation of these illegal vehicle imports, such as the fact that 220 000 vehicles brought in through South African ports have never been exported to the neighbouring countries they were intended for, while a further 214 000 entered South Africa across a border more than 12 months ago and have not returned to their country of registration,” says NADA national director Gary McCraw.

“It is also calculated that the problem continues unabated, with more than an estimated 50 000 vehicles joining the illegal vehicle parc each year.

“These illegal imports are vehicles imported from another country through channels other than those of the manufacturer or official distributor. Generally, these are used vehicles,” adds McCraw.

Used vehicles may not be brought into South Africa for sale, but may be imported via a South African port with the intention of exporting them to a neighbouring country, creating potential loopholes.

There are regulations in place regarding the importation of pre-owned vehicles or used parts, but little control over illegal imports that come into the country through a multitude of border posts, says NADA.

Strict control measures in South Africa should ensure that only a limited number of legal import permits for used vehicles are issued every year.

These are for immigrants, residents and nationals returning to South Africa, specially adapted vehicles for those with physical disabilities, vehicles inherited by South African citizens and nationals, as well as vintage and collector cars and racing cars.

Except for special cases, left-hand-drive cars are not permitted to enter the country.

The VIDS is a Web-based platform that receives vehicle sightings from hundreds of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras countrywide.

The main use of this data is to track vehicles that have been stolen, not paid for, or used for criminal activities.

Each vehicle sighting is stored with the GPS coordinates, date-time stamp, and an image of the actual vehicle.

The VIDS system can, therefore, identify vehicles with cloned or duplicated licence plates, either because they are stolen or illegal.

Vehicles can also be confirmed as being ‘live’ on the system before action is taken to discover their whereabouts, or before tracing and collection efforts get underway.

“Finding ways of tightening up border controls to fight this illegal practice is not only in the interests of the local automotive industry, but also a legitimate way of increasing income for the fiscus, which is in the national interest,” says McCraw.