News ID: 4551
Publish Date : 26 February 2023 - 12:50

The wisdom of a 50 thousand billion car deposit

The integrated car allocation system was activated yesterday afternoon for imported cars, and the financial prerequisite for registration in it is the deposit of 500 million tomans (as a deposit) and why this amount is taken and the fate of the huge liquidity resulting from it, is a big question mark for the public.
Khodrocar - According to the announcement of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade, the capacity of registration in the integrated sales system (for imported cars) is considered to be 100,000 units, so if the same amount of demand is registered (according to the deposit of 500,000 Tomans), the amount of cash deposited into the account It will be 50 thousand billion tomans. Considering the possibility of obtaining this huge amount of money from the applicants of imported cars and since the Ministry of Industry has not given a specific explanation about the location and type of spending this liquidity, the question for public opinion is what is the purpose of attracting this huge amount?

Before the car import ban in 2017, the buying and selling of imported cars was a simple and natural process and the government did not interfere in it. The way it worked was that the customers would choose their desired car by referring to the representatives of official and various importing companies and receive it according to a specific contract and at a fixed price. Although at times, which of course were mostly caused by government interference and sanctions, problems and challenges were also created for the registrants of imported cars, overall the work was normal and hassle-free. Now, although the government has lifted the ban on car imports after four years, it has made the regulations and sales instructions so strict that the path to buying these cars seems very difficult. In other words, the process of importing a car and getting it to the consumer is so winding that it is not even possible to guess when and at what price a certain foreign car will reach the customer.

For any reason that he knows best, the politician has not been able to create a precise, reliable, and hassle-free mechanism for importing foreign cars in the past year since the issuance of the order to liberalize the import of cars, and this issue has made the customers doubt about the end of the import. For example, the government has not yet determined the task of important issues such as the provision of currency needed for car imports, and even the final tariff, final price, importer's profit, and delivery time are not clearly defined.

In such a foggy atmosphere, the customers of imported cars have no choice but to take risks and trust the government, but this important question has been created for them, what were the major problems and problems in the previous process of buying and selling foreign cars in the country, which the politician abandoned and a system Replace the complex, ambiguous and with an uncertain horizon? They also ask why the government wants to take 500 million tomans as a deposit from 100,000 customers when 144 more cars have not yet been imported. On the other hand, where is this money going to be spent? Does the government benefit from attracting this money? Will it go to the account of importers to supply cars?

Different scenarios can be considered to answer these questions. One is that the government wants to generate income from the possible 50% or that this liquidity is supposed to be provided to the importers. Another scenario could be that the government follows market regulation from this system, or that it wants to improve the financial capability of the applicants and eliminate the so-called chance requests (those who do not have the cash to buy a foreign car, but want to if they win the lottery). , benefit from its remittance points) to be sure.

If we consider the first scenario, it means that the government has defined a path of income generation and liquidity acquisition for itself with this model. In other words, the government wants to use the possible liquidity resulting from the registration of 100,000 imported cars (50,000 billion Tomans) in different formats (for example, compensating part of the budget deficit). This is even though there are other standard ways to generate definite revenue (not debt) for the government from the place of car import. A natural way is to receive tariffs and taxes from car imports, which is a common practice in the world. However, the government has not yet specified the exact amount of the tariff.

Or, for example, another standard way is to free the import of some prohibited cars, including those over 20,000 euros and with an engine capacity of more than 2,500 cc. For reasons such as not promoting luxury and high fuel consumption, the government has banned the import of these models of cars, while it can free their entry and create a huge income for itself by defining a tax and tariff higher than the general level. But the government has either abandoned these standard routes or does not specify its duties, importers, and customers regarding them, and instead has resorted to vague, borderline, and unconventional methods. But another scenario regarding the wisdom of a 50% deposit of imported cars is to transfer this liquidity to importers for the provision of registered cars.

Of course, the Ministry of Industry denied this issue and said that nothing will be given to importers from the money deposited by customers for registration. Despite the announcement of the Ministry of Industry, public opinion is not so optimistic that such an event will not happen in practice, because the government may see a solution in the financial charging of the importers in line with the promise of imports and go to the 50 Hamats saved. In the previous model, where the imported cars were supposed to be sold on the commodity exchange, it was clearly announced that the cash obtained from the pre-sale of the cars will be available to the importers to register the order of the cars. However, the commodity exchange did not accept the risk of selling imported cars due to the uncertainties regarding the number and time of their arrival, so the integrated sales system could host them.

In addition to these scenarios, there is another scenario regarding the wisdom of 50,000 billion tomans, which is supposed to be received as a deposit from 100,000 customers of imported cars. According to this scenario, the government seeks to regulate the market and screen the demand through this method. From the very beginning, when the issue of the free import of cars was raised, the government announced that the purpose of this action is to regulate the car market by increasing demand, but under its control. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry took over the whole process of car importation and even its sale was transferred to the integrated allocation system.

Another point is that according to this scenario, the government wants to make sure about the registration of real customers of imported cars (real in that they have the financial ability to buy a foreign car and are not looking for franchise sales). The government is also going to include a lottery system for the sale of imported cars. Anyway, this scenario is raised in the situation that the government tried this test in the domestic car market and did not get any results, and it is not clear why, despite this failure, it wants to try it in another field.