The cost of cars

I usually enjoy reading Marisa Micallef Leyson's contributions but the one about Japanese second hand cars (November 5) made my blood boil!

If Japanese second hand cars are really the pollution threat she makes them out to be, then she would have my full support in curtailing their import. I have a first hand experience of the effects of pollution on a person's health and I would not wish anyone to go through the same shattering experience my family has been through.

However, the issue of second hand cars imported from Japan is definitely not pollution-related. I dare Ms Micallef Leyson to take a drive and make a note of the vehicles belching black smoke on our roads and report how many of them are Japanese second hand imports. Her comment that these Japanese cars pollute "no matter how many certificates they produce" shows that she has no real argument and that pollution is being used as an excuse to stop their importation.

I suggest that Ms Micallef Leyson gets her facts right about the condition of Japanese cars. Her comment about their being "reconditioned" shows her utter ignorance about them. We bought one and when we had it checked by "experts in the field", we were assured that the engine was untouched. I can get her in touch with the car dealer from whom we bought our car. He can help her get her facts straight.

Cars, whether new or second hand, should be booked for polluting. That is where the wardens should be concentrating their efforts rather than booking for petty offences.

Another point I would like to make is that taxing Japanese cars further would be a very anti-social move. Many people who could never have afforded to buy a new four-wheel drive vehicle today own one thanks to the second hand Japanese car market. Salaried workers are taxed to the last cent. Let us not deprive them of this luxury of having the car of their dreams, even if it is second hand.

The importers of new cars have had it too good for too long - the showrooms for their cars are a witness to this. That money came from the hefty profit they make. We are on the doorstep of the EU. One of the reasons for joining the EU was to see an end to monopolies and allow for free competition. Well, this is it! The second hand car dealers have shown enterprise and should be commended, not crushed. They too employ people who will find themselves out of a job if the new car importers have their way.

So, in keeping with the EU spirit, let there be free competition and let us enforce the law against all polluting cars. If the cars do not pollute, then Ms Micallef Leyson has no argument against Japanese second hand cars. I invite people who have bought a Japanese second hand car to write to this newspaper in true solidarity with those who wish to buy the car of their dreams but can only afford a second-hand one.