If you have set your eyes on importing a cheap second-hand car from the UK, make sure you do your homework because some buyers have been unpleasantly surprised once their car arrived in Malta.
Maurice Mizzi, chairman of one of the biggest car importer conglomerates, the Mizzi Organisation, said some motorists who had taken their imported car for a service had discovered that the vehicle had 50,000 miles more than the milometer reading showed.
"I'm not saying all imported second-hand cars are like this but we are being faced with a lot of these cases," Mr Mizzi said.
The industry has been hit hard by a craze for such imports, especially from the UK, where vehicles with 'low mileage' can sell for thousands of euros less than their fresh-out-of-the-showroom equivalent in Malta.
According to official figures released recently, registration of used cars imported from the EU almost quadrupled in the first four months of this year.
The reason is that the new tax regime introduced in January, coupled with a very advantageous sterling rate at that time - it has since risen by around eight pence in the pound - made it very attractive to import a car directly.
Mr Mizzi warned that "not all that glitters is gold".
Sandro Pace, a service consultant with one of his dealerships, Continental Cars, which sells Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, said some of the cases he had faced over the past few months were shocking.
"Just last week, we had a man who imported a Volkswagen Passat which first needed its oil pump changed, and then the turbo... the man was desperate. Another client had to replace a €4,000 unit in the gearbox of his Porsche Cayenne, two days after he got the car to Malta."
A lot of the cars have had their mileage tampered with, besides the hidden wear and tear on the engine. Furthermore, since salt is used in the UK to melt snow on the roads, when a car has been used for some years, it usually has a layer of rust throughout the underside.
"That is one of the most common problems, and it's immediately apparent when we jack the cars up for a service."
A car dealer who imports second-hand cars from the UK himself said he was familiar with these stories. "I've heard of these sorts of things and just recently I had a friend who had serious problems with a BMW Z3," Rueben Calleja from Highway Garage said.
Ultimately, he said, it all depended on who the client was dealing with. Nowadays, most cars, especially the more expensive models which tend to be imported from the UK, have sophisticated electronic systems which can give you a detailed 'diagnosis' of a car's health, including its mileage - irrespective of the mileage shown on the instruments.
"We let our potential clients take the car and have it checked by the agent. We never tamper with the mileage, so we have nothing to hide," Mr Calleja insisted.
Other importers and dealers were not as forthcoming, and the Association of Car Importers would not comment.
The Sunday Times is informed that the association has made proposals to the government on measures to curb what they believe to be fraud and unfair competition. Coupled with more cautious spending due to the financial crisis, this boom has made life difficult for car importers. "I am not saying this to attract sympathy, but our bottom line has been hit hard," Mr Mizzi said.
Most car importers responded to the situation by lowering prices significantly, leading to accusations that their mark-ups were significant. But Mr Mizzi insists that this sort of criticism is unfair. "There is a lot of talk that we are cheats, but the truth is that we take huge risks and make nowhere near the profit we should be making, especially now.
"We offer our clients peace of mind and after-sales service - that comes at a cost," he said.