Kereta Potong in Malaysia
There was a report in the New Straits Times yesterday regarding the problem known as kereta potong, which are cars that are assembled from cannibalised parts. The original chassis or skeleton of the car’s integrity is jeopardised and the areas which they are joined together might rust easily and are prone to breaking. These cars are considered not road-worthy.
Last year, there were 600,000 second hand cars that transferred hands and only 450,000 were inspected by Puspakom. This is because only second hand car sales that go through financing has to be inspected by Puspakom, and the remainder were cash dealings.
The following are the statistics for kereta potong detected through inspection:
| 2000 - 82 2001 - 124 2002 - 287 2003 - 323 |
2004 - 2000 2005 - 4062 2006 - 2000 to date, expected 5000 |
The problem is, how much can we trust Puspakom? Everyone knows certain people’s allegiance can be easily bought, it’s an open secret. Let’s not pretend we don’t know the real situation here. Last month, there was this incident where a young man Encik Zadil Hayat Omar bought a Satria 1.6 from an Am Finance auction. The purchase price was RM16,400. Am Finance had sent the car to Puspakom for inspection twice before delivering it to the buyer on Jan 14. Zadil then took the car for an inspection in March, and the car passed again.
Later in April 2005 when Zadil wanted to renew his road tax, another Puspakom check was required. This time the car failed, and Puspakom reported it was a cut and join kereta potong. Am Finance refused to refund the money to Zadil.
Apparently the earlier two checks were done at G-Mart, an agent of AmBank. As for the report done by Zadil in March, the original report had gone missing, but a copy that remained had a fail stamp on it. Puspakom branch manager Mohamad Murid said a mistake had been made with the report issued to Zadil in March - guess what? They did not stamp the word fail on the document.
I mean, seriously now. That stamp with the word fail on it makes the world of a difference - hot and cold, north and south, black and white, heaven and hell! How is it possible to make such a mistake? Speaking from a consumer’s point of view, can we even trust Puspakom as the body responsible for making sure our cars are not kereta potong?
Zadil took the case to court because Am Finance did not want to refund his money, saying Puspakom was at fault. But the court ruled that it was not Zadil’s fault either, and ordered Am Finance to refund his money.
Sources:
NST: Finance company told to refund used-car buyer
NST: Roadworthiness of 150,000 cars in doubt
July 11, 2006 @ 12:07 pm
yes, that puspakom report does make a whole lot of difference. I’ve experience it before. My car sold to some heck of car dealers, and the finance company requested for the report and it was Rejected.. with the status “G”. I dont believe it somehow, then i resent the car for another time and this time is “L” which is lulus. Can u really trust them? Sometimes ok and sometimes not. My car met a major accident before previously before i sold. They are just another money maker with the finance company..
July 11, 2006 @ 12:11 pm
want to dedicate a song ” Cash Rules Everything Around Me ” to puspakom. Keep up with your GOOD work. alahai.
July 11, 2006 @ 12:36 pm
we dun hv to pretend. its not even an open secret. Its juz something that no one want to bother with. Probaly when all the kereta potong starts to blow up and people starts to die (that too if it involves someone high), then mayb PUSPAKOM will take some action.
July 11, 2006 @ 12:52 pm
Make Puspakom liable for its tests.. why AMFinance pay when it is Puspakom fault? Dig till to the lubang cacing and prosecute these people, jail them for negligence or accepting bribe or anything like that.
As for the AmFinance case, make sure that guys is paid for his hassle to go to court also.. time is money you know.
July 11, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
is there any way we can check ourselves?
what signs should we look out for?
it will be great if there’s a guideline on which spot we should observe…what kind of crack/welding we should be look out etc…
can DIY instead of sending to puspakom when wanna purchase 2nd hand car…
July 11, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
weneva i hear the folowing names , i feel like shouting out loud the F word..
the words are the folowing.1-JPJ 2-Puspakom!
July 11, 2006 @ 1:58 pm
better hand off from 2nd hand cars… but i read one news b4, new car oso got kereta potong.. anything is possible in bolehland…
July 11, 2006 @ 2:14 pm
if u knoe how, it is easy to deermine whether the car is ‘potongized’ or not…look at the popular spots where the car is joined together (A pillar, B pillar)… if it has some irregularities in homogeneity of shape, then it has been in an accident or a potong car….easy
July 11, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
-nabilll said,
July 11, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
weneva i hear the folowing names , i feel like shouting out loud the F word..
the words are the folowing.1-JPJ 2-Puspakom!
add one more..Proton la…this problems occurs because of Proton , need to protect la, other car price need to be expensive la,Proton is the mother of all the problems we are suffering.make sure they die first before us…
July 11, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
-nabilll said,
July 11, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
weneva i hear the folowing names , i feel like shouting out loud the F word..
the words are the folowing.1-JPJ 2-Puspakom!
add one more..Proton la…this problems occurs because of Proton , need to protect la, other car price need to be expensive la,Proton is the mother of all the problems we are suffering.make sure they die first before us…
July 11, 2006 @ 3:29 pm
mycar_stolen said,
add one more..Proton la…this problems occurs because of Proton , need to protect la, other car price need to be expensive la,Proton is the mother of all the problems we are suffering.make sure they die first before us…
blunt:
add one more …Perodua..Proton and Perodua to be exact…
you guess what they charge for so called optional first aid kit that there are arrogantly stated a MUST BUY items..
cheers…
July 11, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
wats da point of havin dis puspakom n jpj when dey don do their job properly ?
July 11, 2006 @ 3:43 pm
PUSPAKOM..they are very selfish..they dont care how their service rate or how the rakyat suffer..they do only care about their salary or how they can make more money on corruption. if you do ask them they will say “tak apa cari makan”.
July 11, 2006 @ 3:43 pm
The issues are not about JPJ or Puspakom, but rather their staffs…a non integrity one…
This happened not only to the both two, but other sector as well..banking sector and etc, even judiciary as well..if you remember…even the Guardian of one temple in Batu Caves also get caught for misuse the temple fund..
July 11, 2006 @ 4:07 pm
want good service…
give them duit kopi………
that’s what we can do(from a point of a perfectionist)…….but from a consumer point of view…it’s an abuse.
So,what we really can do??
July 11, 2006 @ 4:24 pm
PUSPAKOM ppl only likes money… no money no talk. got $, worse cars also can be best. At my town there’re tons of busses with ‘dark clouds’ behind. wat happen to the inspection? n the busses are damn old like just get it out from junkyard. Those busses can be condemt already if going by the rules. but still its on the road…
n something funny. When I went to a small town. I also saw a PUSPAKOM building. That building is just 4 high poles with roof on it n a small office. Nothing there. not even human there, not even any equipments. They’re gonna test cars with naked eyes? n ppl pay money for those tests? geezz….
July 12, 2006 @ 2:20 am
z350,
hahhaha…….more rules = more problems ……for rakyat’s wallet.
conversely….more rules = more side income….for g-servants
July 12, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
Only concerned with making money from selling cars. Not concerned with customers’ safety on the roads.
July 13, 2006 @ 8:26 am
I’ve been wondering whether annual PUSPAKOM inspections are compulsory in Malaysia. Throw me a bone here… =)
July 13, 2006 @ 10:45 am
Kereta potong? Aiskrim potong sedap apa?