The Trade Li­cence Unit (TLU) of the Min­istry of Trade and In­dus­try says it has not­ed an up­surge in the num­ber of re­port­ed cas­es of mem­bers of the pub­lic be­ing de­fraud­ed of their monies while at­tempt­ing to ob­tain for­eign used ve­hi­cles such as cars (SU­Vs, sedans and sta­tion wag­ons), pick-up trucks, pan­el vans and trucks.

In a state­ment, the TLU said as the reg­u­la­tor of the for­eign used car in­dus­try in Trinidad and To­ba­go and the agency re­spon­si­ble for the is­suance of li­cences to fa­cil­i­tate the im­port of these ve­hi­cles, the Trade Li­cence Unit is ad­vis­ing the pub­lic to be vig­i­lant and get fa­mil­iar with all the re­quire­ments and pro­ce­dures to im­port or pur­chase a for­eign used ve­hi­cle. 

“While mem­bers of the pub­lic are al­lowed to im­port for­eign used ve­hi­cles for their per­son­al/ com­mer­cial use, the MTI ( Min­istry of Trade and In­dus­try) strong­ly rec­om­mends that per­sons uti­lize as far as pos­si­ble, the ser­vices of a Reg­is­tered For­eign Used Car Deal­er, as such en­ti­ties have un­der­gone strict com­pli­ance re­quire­ments and are ac­tive­ly mon­i­tored by the Trade Li­cence Unit,” it said.