CRAG calls for clamp down on illegal car rental operators
The Car Rentals Association of Ghana (CRAG) has appealed to the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to clamp down on illegal car rental operators in the country since they are undermining national tourism development and economic growth.
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The President of the CRAG, Mr Thomas Okyere, said apart from depriving the nation of tax revenue, the illegal car rental operators also undermined the country’s tourism promotion efforts because of the poor services they provided.
He said some of them were threat to tourists, as they operated as agents of criminals to rob the tourists of their valuables.
He said under such circumstances, it was difficult to track and arrest such charlatans in the industry because they did not have a permanent office or any form of address to trace them.
Mr Okyere, accompanied by two of the national executive of the CRAG, made the appeal through the Daily Graphic when they called at the offices of the national daily in Accra to express concern over some developments in the car rental business.
Recently, the police busted a man alleged to have stolen about 18 vehicles belonging to some car rental agencies with the view to sell them to unsuspecting customers.
His modus operandi was to feign interest in renting a vehicle from a car rental agency, and after he had been given the opportunity to test-drive the vehicle, he absconded with it.
Subsequently, he managed to change the documents of ownership of the vehicles and sold them to unsuspecting customers.
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Mr Okyere advised the public to patronise the services of certified and registered car rental agencies in order not to fall prey to charlatans in the system.
Under the law, car rental agencies are required to be registered by the Registrar General’s Department and licensed by the GTA before operation. Anything to the contrary is illegal.
The CRAG, a body recognised by the GTA, seeks to bring sanity into the car rental industry.
Mr Okyere urged all car rental agencies to join the CRAG, assuring them of enormous benefits, including training programmes to enhance their professional competences.
He said CRAG also negotiated with insurance companies for a discount on comprehensive insurance packages for its members.
Mr Okyere said another benefit was that CRAG had been lobbying the government for incentives to enhance the operation of its members.
He said the association had begun discussions with the government on the need to grant members of CRAG tax exemptions on vehicles they imported to help reduce their overhead cost.
Mr Okyere appealed to commercial banks to reduce their interest rates for members of CRAG so that they could secure loans for their operations.
He urged the Bank of Ghana to review the dollar account policy which required that dollar account holders, who wished to make withdrawals, be given Ghana cedis instead of dollars since it was making them incur losses.
That was because after the banks had paid the account holders Ghana cedis instead of dollars, using the banks’ exchange rate, they changed the local currency back into dollars at a higher exchange rate before undertaking any business transaction, thereby causing them huge losses.
He stressed the need for a uniform exchange rate to ensure that business operators did not lose money during the process of changing them from one currency to another.
Mr Okyere appealed to the government to assist members of CRAG with grants to enhance their businesses.
Story by Kofi Yeboah
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