Toyota’s dealership in Cyprus is set to make a whopping €4.8 million by charging “administrative costs” for free airbag replacements in 30,000 of the over 80,000 recalled cars.
Mazda is the second company imposing administrative costs, reaching €160 per vehicle, while the other 11 dealerships are completing the whole process free of charge.
According to existing legislation, dealers in Cyprus are allowed to charge these “administrative costs”, which include all necessary paperwork around each vehicle recalled, although the actual installation of the replacement airbags will be free to car owners.
Mazda later clarified that its administrative charges of €119, including VAT, only applies for vehicles that do not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval (EC-WVTA). This charge covers administrative fees, including the preparation of warranty claims, call center services, and additional personnel for faster processing. The replacement of parts and labour are free of charge. But for all vehicles that meet European specifications, the entire process is carried out free of charge.
The administrative fees have been approved by the competent authority of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said all companies have been asked to update their data and some have already done so.
However, the sheer number of over 30,000 vehicle data meant that they could not be looked into individually in a very short time.
The data, Vafeades said, had already been made public and vehicle owners could check to see if their cars were being recalled, even if faulty parts had been replaced in the past.
“It is an inconvenience and we apologise for this, but it is better to be carried out in this manner rather than not at all,” he added.
Vafeades said data was being updated all the time and that a schedule for the implementation of recalls was being discussed with the dealers.
“We are interested to know how many airbags they have, how many they can get their hands on, when they can expect to receive them, the labour […] and if they need additional space,” he said.
He added that “the state is here to support this effort and to find solutions, because we are interested in implementing this recall the soonest possible.”
But MPs have slammed the government for its slow reaction in the chaos that ensued the ministerial decrees on recalls and the text messages sent to the families of the two young people killed.
They also named the two companies they said were “wrongly charging administrative costs”.
Green Party MP Stavros Papadouris told CyBC Trito radio that there were 13 dealerships in Cyprus and that 11 were not charging. However, two were charging €160 for administrative costs, which he implied did not do much for their reputation.
“Each company is judged by its good reputation. I hope the state will give an interim solution. There is no need to charge administrative costs,” he said.
Papadouris said one of the two companies, “with simple calculations, is set to make about €4.6 million in a short time” by charging administrative costs for 30,000 recalled cars.
Disy MP Nikos Sykas named this company as Toyota and the second as Mazda.
“I call on Toyota with the largest number of recalled cars not to prioritise making a profit from this. The other company is Mazda and it is striving to help the customers,” Sykas said.
Sykas advised customers to refuse to pay the administrative cost.
“If the state covers the administrative costs, what about the other 11 companies that have not charged? Is this fair on them?”
Sykas said that “on Tuesday at the House commerce committee we will bring the service that wrongly decided that the companies are entitled to charge administrative costs.”
Akel MP Andreas Pasiourtides said dealers should have already placed orders for airbags, as “they already know that at least a third will come forward immediately.”
“It is wrong to wait for the owners to contact them before placing orders,” he added.
Pasiourtides suggested that appointments for recalls should be made with the dealers by registration number, so the owners had a specified day to take their cars in.
Diko MP Chrysanthos Savvides said the problem that arose with the text messages was due to the fact that “we don’t have a proper database and this database has never been updated because there was inaction, negligence and a [road transport department] TOM that is understaffed.”
“We have been saying this. They have known this problem for 15 years and no one did anything. Pandora’s Box is now open. It is not just the Takata airbags, but other things as well, such as brakes,” he said.
Savvides said that for the job to be done properly, “we must staff TOM, as this is all coming as a tsunami.”
The MP said he himself had received “three messages for cars I have never owned.”
Edek MP Elias Myrianthous said that there had been “no communication between TOM and the dealers and this weakness now shows.”
He added that text messages have been sent out and “previous owners of vehicles have also received an SMS, as well as those who have already replaced the problematic airbags.”
Myrianthous said “it seems 200,000 out of about 800,000 registered vehicles have problems, which is one in four.
They also said – and director of the Consumer Protection Service Constantinos Karagiorgis agreed – that there should be a helpline or call centre or website to help customers, with Karagiorgis saying this should have been in place before the decrees were issued.
“People are panicking,” Karagiorgis said and called on the public to be patient.
He added that two of the dealerships charge consumers an administrative cost.
“This has nothing to do with the cost of the airbags or the labour, only the correspondence,” he said.
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