Transportation industry representatives yesterday urged the government to help negotiate a six-month auto loan deferment for owners of rental cars and tour buses.
The government’s Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) does not cover all businesses, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏), who chairs the KMT Culture and Communications Committee, told a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Taipei.
The rental car business has since October last year been affected by a decline in the number of Chinese tourists, said Tu Chin-hung (杜金鈜), who heads a national mutual aid group of rental car owners.
Photo: CNA
The COVID-19 pandemic is another hit to the income of rental car owners, he said, adding that they now have “zero income.”
The virus has also affected the tour bus business, Taichung Bus for Tourists Association head Chang Chih-pen (張治本) said.
Tour buses are expensive, with each bus costing between NT$6 million and NT$8 million (US$197,981 and US$263,974), he said.
A tour bus’ value depreciates by NT$80,000 to NT$100,000 per month, Chang said, adding that the depreciation would cause a company with 10 tour buses to lose about NT$5 million over six months.
Local motor vehicle offices told bus owners at a meeting last week that they needed to provide proof that their loan payments have been deferred to receive interest subsidies from the government, he said.
However, the chances of a deferment being granted at this time are slim, he added.
Chang suggested that the government consider allowing owners to apply for interest subsidies by providing proof that they have a loan.
“Behind every driver is a family,” Wang said.
Separately on Wednesday, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) panned government inadequacies revealed in the special act.
As of the middle of this month, 3,835 people across 109 companies are on unpaid leave, yet the Ministry of Labor’s “recharge and restart project” has only received applications from 16 companies, or 14 percent, TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said.
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