PHILIPSBURG--Police in collaboration with several entities on both sides of the island are attempting to regulate the bill of sale for second hand vehicles come May 1. In a press conference on Monday, Police explained the reasons for the policy change and said that they have the support of St. Maarten Insurance Association.

Government IT Department and the Department of Communications, the Inspection Department, the Island Receivers Office, Gendarmerie, Simpson Bay Service Centre and the Prosecutors’ Office.

 

In the past anyone selling a vehicle, could easily make their own bill of sale, sometimes even handwritten ones and the vehicle would be transferred between the seller and the buyer without any possible control or real time information of the vehicle, the buyer or seller. By regulating this document, it removes the uncertainties as it relates to ownership of the vehicle and protects the buyer from possibly purchasing a stolen vehicle and losing their hard earned money in the process according to the police.

 

The press conference was attended by Police Spokesman Chief Inspector Ricardo Henson, Insurance Association, Chief Inspector B. Gout, Inspectors and Community Police Officers D. Chandler and E. Josepha.

 

This project seeks to standardize the document for buyers of second-hand vehicles to protect them from purchasing unsuspected stolen vehicles, which usually results in a loss of their investment. According to Community Police Officer Chandler, “As of June 2015, a spike in car theft was noticed, after an in depth analysis was carried out by the police department, it was uncovered that there was an alarming number of reported stolen cars on both Dutch and French side of the island. Statistics further indicated that between January 1, 2013, and June 1, 2015, approximately 400 vehicles were reported stolen on the Dutch side of the island and approximately 700 vehicles on the French side during the same period.

 

While several of these vehicles were never recovered, investigations showed that the stolen vehicles were not shipped off island. What was discovered was that car theft was a lucrative business. Once the vehicle is stolen the VIN numbers are then altered and then re-sold or the vehicle was stolen and immediately re-sold several times within a short period, so that tracing it back to the original owner is almost impossible and the vehicle eventually ends up back into circulation with a new owner who most times is unaware that the vehicle they have purchased was stolen property,” Chandler said.

 

After internal discussions, a plan of action on how best to tackle the problem was formed. “Our goal was to curb car theft on the island. In reaching this goal, we chose to use a different approach, by getting the parties together who are most affected by this criminal practice to work with us; this then would make our efforts more effective.

 

“Therefore, we met with St. Maarten Insurance Association and proposed a plan of action to them, which got them on board from the get go, as they too have sustained hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses as a result of car theft.”

It became clear that the best possible solution to curb car theft was to structure the procedure of transferring ownership of vehicles. Hence the project to change and standardize the Bill of Sale was born.

 

“All partners involved were very influential in the creation, reviewing and finalizing of the document. We moved from having a simple document transformed into an official user-friendly document. This new standardized document will be the only bill of sale accepted by all insurance companies, their agents and brokers on St. Maarten as of May 1.

 

One of the main aspects of the new bill of sale is that it will only be available online. This document will be available only on the Government's website, where you will be prompted to fill in the form and once all the required fields are completed, then you will be instructed to download and print the bill of sale.

 

To complete the process, the document must be signed by both the buyer and seller before being taken to the insurance company. Documents that must accompany the bill of sale when acquiring insurance for the vehicle are: a copy of the seller’s valid ID (Valid driver’s licence/ ID card or Passport, copy of the buyer’s valid driver’s licence, copy of the vehicle’s last insurance policy, copy of the vehicle inspection card, Carte Grise[original car registration document – Ed.] and Nafl. 5,stamp. One other control feature of the new Bill of Sale is that a random 12 digit number is generated by the system which can later be used to provide proof of ownership, should the vehicle be stolen and later found.

 

After the implementation date of May 1, insurance companies and brokers will only accept the new digital bill of sale that can be generated online with some exceptions. The possibility also exist that documentation can be done at the Simpson-Bay Service Centre, at your insurance company or broker if you don’t have access to Internet service.

Other information regarding the website and how it should be used will be explained in the near future.

 

The Daily Herald