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March 29th, 2024

Federal Insider

Would you buy a used car from Uncle Sam? Watch out

Joe Davidson

By Joe Davidson The Washington Post

Published Oct. 23, 2016

Would you buy a used car from Uncle Sam? Watch out
WASHINGTON - Used-car salesmen have a stereotype, valid or not, for being shifty, sleazy types exploiting a don't-tell approach to problems with their goods.

You wouldn't expect to find Uncle Sam in that lot.

But a letter from members of Congress, expressing their "profound disappointment" with the General Services Administration, indicates that's the crowd Sam the salesman frequents.

GSA is in charge of government buildings and vehicles, including cars and trucks that at some point outlive their usefulness. But when Sam sells a used vehicle, the GSA does not let customers know if the car or truck is subject to a safety recall, according to the representatives.

"As an arm of the federal government, your agency has the responsibility to look out for the well-being of Americans," said the letter led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. "Leasing and auctioning vehicles with open safety recalls is inconsistent with that responsibility. We urge you to take immediate action to reduce the number of vehicles in the federal fleet with open recalls and to only auction vehicles once safety issues have been resolved."

Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., N.J., G. K. Butterfield, N.C., and Lois Capps, Calif., also signed the letter, which cited a report by Circa, a digital news service. That report said more than 20 percent of the GSA cars available for auction in August had open recalls.

A GSA spokesperson placed the percentage much lower, saying in fiscal 2016, "GSA sold 37,486 vehicles, 98 percent of those sold vehicles did not have any open safety recalls that were actionable."

But what is actionable? A footnote at the bottom of the agency's statement provides a limited definition:

"Actionable recalls represent those recalls for which parts are available to address the designated issue. In many cases, parts are not available for some time after a recall is announced. When this occurs, recalls are considered to be non-actionable."

The sale of cars under recall by GSA apparently conflicts with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration policy - a situation the letter called "completely jarring." In an August letter to Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., on a matter unrelated to GSA, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind made his agency's position clear:

"All vehicles with an open safety recall pose a safety risk. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) believes that every vehicle - new or used - with an open recall should be repaired prior to rent, lease, or sale."

NHTSA has requested authority to prohibit the sale of vehicles under recall, but Congress has not yet approved that power.

NHTSA would not comment on GSA's sale of unsafe vehicles, but the Center for Auto Safety, founded by Consumers Union and Ralph Nader, did.

"I am amazed that the GSA has not immediately pledged to fix this problem," said Michael Brooks, a staff attorney for the Center. "It is incredibly easy to look up open recalls using NHTSA's VIN lookup system. And not only is it easy to find open recalls, the repairs are free. The GSA could fix this problem at an extremely minimal cost to taxpayers while protecting those same taxpayers in the process."

The members criticized GSA for operating within the law, but not doing what it should.

"Currently, GSA procedures do not require fixing safety defects prior to auction, notifying buyers if there are open recalls, or even checking for potential recalls," the members wrote. "This may be technically legal, but it is not right."

They presented a scenario that allows GSA to take back a car under recall from another agency, then sell it to a private citizen without providing information about any defect.

"What makes the sale of unsafe vehicles even more troubling is that the GSA already has a system to check its vehicles for recalls," the letter said. "Under current procedures, the GSA could find out through its automated recall alert system that a vehicle it has leased to another federal agency has an open safety recall. That agency could then return the vehicle back to GSA, and the GSA could sell that vehicle to a private buyer through auction knowing that a recall was in effect. The GSA would not even notify the buyer of the recall. It would provide only a general disclaimer that a vehicle may be subject to recall, putting all the responsibility on the buyer to check for a recall and then address it."

The bottom line for Schakowsky, Pallone, Butterfield and Capps: "No federal agency should use or sell cars that are unsafe."

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