Moulmein authorities recently held an auction of seized cars and motorbikes, but sales were low despite cheap prices. Buyers were reportedly wary of the licenses accompanying the vehicles, which were reportedly seized in 2004.
A local car dealer explained, “No-one wanted to buy the vehicles that the authorities were selling because they did not believe that the licenses for them were genuine. Also, the authorities had stripped the vehicles of the best parts so they were no good. That’s why they were so cheap but still, even at low prices, nobody wanted them.”
According to a motorbike dealer, “The authorities held the auction in a football stadium from Feb. 27/28th to March 1st. I don’t know the prices of the cars but the motorbike prices were low – between 1.5 and 1.7 million kyat with a license.”
During February the standard price of motorbikes was also relatively low – between 2.2 and 2.3 million kyat with a license and between 1.2 and 1.3 million kyat without.
The motorbike dealer confirmed this, saying, “recently the price has been low because there are less people buying bikes. Business is difficult for the dealers due to these low prices. These cars and bikes the authorities were selling were seized in 2004 from people who had no licenses for them.”
The Voice Weekly, a Burmese language journal, stated that the vehicles in the auction, 180 cars and 41 motorbikes, were those that the authorities no longer had any use for.
Buyers had to pay a deposit of 2 million kyat for the cars and 100,000 Kyat for the motorbikes. This was the second auction in Moulmein, following another held in September 2008. The order for the auction came from Nay Pyi Daw to the Commander of the Southeast Command and was organized with local businessmen and ceasefire groups.
However, as the cars and bikes were originally seized for having no license, people did not believe in the authenticity of those offered with the auctioned vehicles. A local businessman said, “these vehicles from 2004 had no licenses but the authorities made licenses for them and were trying to sell them.”
