Tamrin Motors, one of the main distributors of Suzuki in Ethiopia, has terminated contracts with 140 buyers, citing its inability to open a Letter of Credit (LC) as the cause for the action.
The auto importer’s decision to delay the import of the vehicles for more than four months has angered customers who have been waiting for the imports.
The car importer has cited the restriction on 38 products for which banks cannot open LC as the reason for the halt.
Managers of Tamrin have already informed buyers to collect the down payment they have made for the imports of the Suzuki cars.
The buyers have paid between 20 and 30 percent of the car that they chose to import. Among the products imported for buyers were the Suzuki Dzire 2022 and Suzuki Swift 2021.
“The plan was to open LC as soon as the imports got to the Djibouti Free Trade Zone, which was supposed to take 90 days. But this happened after the ban. “No buyer waited for 90 days and no car came to the Zone when the LC ban went into effect,” said Eyasu Gebeyehu, who works for Tamrin as Deputy Operation Manager.
According to Eyasu, the contract gives Tamrin the right to end the agreement at any time. The Reporter saw the contract Tamrin signed with the buyers and confirmed that what he said was true.
“We haven’t opened an LC for any of the buyers,” Eyasu remarked.
Buyers are unhappy with the decision made by the car supplier.
“When the ban was put in place, I was asked to sign a form for an extension that said I had to pay based on the current USD exchange rate or get the down payment. It’s not fair to make us make such a choice,” the buyer said.
There have already been 50 customers who have received their down payments.
“We have waited until the contract period has reached 90 days in the hopes that the ban will be lifted, but it has not yet happened. As a result, we were in the position where we had no choice but to cancel the contract,” added Eyasu.
