(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Residents have to deal with persistent middlemen of used cars showrooms on a daily basis
Passers-by and residents are forcefully stopped and hounded by illegal brokers who line up near houses and parking lots to persuade people to buy used cars in Abu Shagara. — KT photos by M. Sajjad
Sharjah —“Please come” “ do you want a car” “good prices”. These are some of the phrases chanted by illegal brokers around the residential areas of the used-car market in Abu Shagara which is one of the biggest centres for used cars in the Middle East.
Residents of Abu Shagara complain about the annoying and persuasive ways of the brokers hired by showrooms of used cars located in the vicinity.
Passers-by and residents are forcefully stopped and hounded by these men who line up near houses and the car parking lots in the area. Praveen Valor a resident of Abu Shagara said: “The thing that annoys me is that these people know I’m living here. They see my face every day when I go to work and when I return from work and still they stop me for at least five minutes to persuade me to buy a car!” Yassir Al Baroody said that such activities have contributed in bringing down the rents in Abu Shagara as people avoid to live in the area.
“These middlemen are so disturbing and annoying that all the time they stop us and waste our time. They see us (residents) almost every day and still can they not distinguish between residents and potential buyers They think every one is customer and wants to buy a car.”
Amna Al Mutawa another resident of the area said she has been living with her two daughters in the area for 20 years since her husband passed away. She said they couldn’t move anywhere else as they could not afford a new apartment.
“We feel insecure in this area since we are all women living here and feel unsafe when these men crowd at our building entrance and block our way. We want the authorities concerned to do something about this mess in this area” she said.
Resident Fareed Saheb said that the only solution for this problem is to move this market from here because its existence here will create a new problem every day and will affect the safety and stability of the residents in the area.
Isam Hassan manager of a showroom at the used cars market in the area said: “We didn’t hire these men to bring costumers they come to us and offer their services of bringing customers for used cars on the condition that we pay them 10 per cent of the price of the car. They are not legally employed by any of the showrooms. We are not responsible when they get caught.”
“We tell them to practice their activities far away from our showrooms but when they bring customers to us we pay them commission” Hassan added. A broker in the area Riayas Abdul Ghaffar said he has the licence to practice broker services and this has been his job for the last 30 years. He said there are many who bring customers illegally and that they don’t even have a legal residency visa to stay in the country.
Cracking the whip on illegal brokers
Col Jihad bin Sahoh Director of Search and Investigation department at the Sharjah Police said that the inspection campaign that is targeting illegal activities and illegals is continuing.
“The inspectors have been instructed to crack the whip on such illegal brokers in the used car markets of Abu Shagara. Most of those who were arrested there were found staying in the country illegally practicing this activities to earn a living. The inspections will continue in the area until all such illegal activities are curbed.”
According to the CID last year from November and until end of December the police arrested 775 illegals practicing activities such as illegal brokering.
In order to fight this activity the Sharjah Municipality has issued identity cards to the owners and the staff of used car showrooms. The employee of showrooms are required to wear these cards when dealing with municipality officials and customers.
Col bin Sahoh added that the municipality is still in the process of planning car auctions in order to provide opportunities for those who want to buy and sell used cars in a legal and organised way.
An official from the Sharjah Economic Development Department also said calling people from the street to sell any product is not allowed.A municipality official said that currently there is no plan of shifting the Abu Shagara used-car market to Al Roq’ah Al Hamra area.