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Vehicle imports through Beitbridge Border Post have dropped drastically following a 20 percent increase in customs duty on imported cars at the beginning of the month

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THERE is a huge decline in volumes of imported second hand vehicles arriving at Beitbridge Border Post following a 20 percent increase in customs duty on imported cars at the beginning of the month.

Under the new duty regime, importers of a single cab of a payload more than 800kgs now pay 40 percent duty from 20 percent.

Buses with a carrying capacity of 26 passengers and above, which were imported duty free, now pay 40 percent duty.

Double cab trucks are paying 60 percent duty from 40 percent while motor vehicles of engine capacity below 1500cc are charged 40 percent duty from 25 percent.

Those with engine capacity above 1500cc remain paying 86 percent duty inclusive of VAT and Surtax.

The development has seen the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) processing fewer car imports at the Manica Transit Shed in Beitbridge.

“We’re processing documents for less than 40 vehicles per day as compared to the previous month where we would deal with over 100 cars,” said a Zimra official at the warehouse.

Investigations by our Beitbridge Bureau indicate that before the new duty regime, Zimra was making over $100,000 on car imports at Manica Transit Shed per day but the figure has declined to around $30,000.

A modest vehicle costs between $3,000 and $4,000 from dealers on the South African side of the border and attracts import duty of roughly the same amount.

Before the introduction of the new regulations, Zimra officials were clearing around 170 vehicle imports per day since the beginning of October as dealers rushed to beat the November 1 deadline.

The number of vehicle deliveries has also declined from 300 cars to around 80 per day, it has emerged.

Vehicle dealers on the South African side of the border said they were struggling to sell more than five cars per day.

Major car dealers at the South African border include Quest Royal, Wright Cars, Car Cade, Murree Motors, Noble Motors and KDG. “Business is very low now. We hope things will normalise with time. At the moment we’re selling around five cars as compared to the usual 40 per day”, said one of the dealers, Clemence Mabidi, from Wright Cars.

He said cars with small engines such as Nissan March, Honda Fit, Toyota Vitz, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Raum and Fun Cargo used to be in high demand before the new regulations.

Other dealers said they were considering reducing the prices so that they could clear current stocks and bring in more vehicles in preparation for the festive season.

Zimra’s communications department could not respond to questions from this publication by end of day yesterday.