Zammit Holdings, one of the largest second-hand car dealers in Malta, believes that it could also sell new cars at very competitive prices, but the company feels irked that it is not able to challenge the status quo.

“We have the possibility of buying new cars from abroad but are still unable to do so as to register a new car in Malta, you have to have the original manufacturer’s invoice. And you can only get that by buying from the manufacturer directly – which is impossible as they will only sell to their exclusive agents in Malta.

“However, there are other dealerships around the world which buy stock to meet their quotas, ending up with excess which they are ready to sell to us. But we cannot register them as new! So we have to register the cars abroad, and bring them here as used – which distorts the statistics!

The government’s aim is to bring down the average age of the vehicle fleet in Malta from 14 years old to 10 years by 2020

“Smaller used car importers actually store the cars until they are old enough to bring in as ‘used’ – or they drive them around until the mileage qualifies them to be considered second-hand. But you cannot afford to tie up your capital for six months when you have a few hundred cars!” managing director James Zammit said. He was also dismissive of claims by the new car importers that the registration tax favours used cars.

“They claim that we do not pay registration tax on the car’s extras – but this is a misconception. The reality is that new car importers prefer to sell extras separately, to boost their revenue, whereas used cars would already include extras as a package, so they tend to have more accessories than those sold by the local agents,” he insisted.

He also said that the availability of affordable, relatively ‘new’ used cars was helping people who wanted to trade in their older cars.

“The government’s aim is to bring down the average age of the vehicle fleet in Malta from 14 years old to 10 years by 2020. This is why the registration tax favours newer cars by incentivising lower emissions,” he said.