BOC to auction off 4 ‘hot’ cars on May 27

Bureau of Customs building. (Photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — After selling three “hot” cars last month, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will auction off four seized luxury vehicles on May 27, in a bid to raise at least P22.4 million.

A notice issued by the BOC’s Manila International Container Port (MICP) on Friday showed that on top of three luxury cars which it failed to sell three times already, a 2006 Lamborghini Vin, which customs authorities confiscated in 2016 will be up for grabs for a minimum price of P10.4 million.

The three other vehicles, which were all stopped at the MICP last year, had been part of the original lineup of hot cars auctioned off in December of last year, January this year, and the latest last April.

As such, the BOC will again put on the auction block the 2008 Ferrari Scuderia 430, 2001 Porsche Boxster, and 2011 Mercedes Benz E220.

From their April floor prices, these three yet unsold cars will again be offered at a little cheaper — the Ferrari, at least P10.5 million (from P11.6 million last month); the Porsche, P809,082.97 (from P898,981.08); and the Mercedes Benz, P783,049.46 (from P870,054.96).

The prices of the hot cars for sale in April were already slashed by half compared to the earlier BOC pricing during the first two auctions. Car enthusiasts and market observers had deemed the original offer prices as overpriced, given that these were used vehicles.

Last April 27, the BOC raised a total of P6.3 million from three hot cars it sold instead of destroying them as done in the past.

The BOC successfully disposed of a brand-new Mercedes Benz G500 sport utility vehicle (SUV) at P4.8 million — higher than the P4.75-million floor price; as well as a 2001 Mercedes Benz SLK55 at P775,000, and a 2001 Mercedes Benz SLK350 at P730,000. The two Mercedes Benz cars sold last month fetched higher bids than their minimum bid prices, which were also half of their floor prices last December and January.

For the May 27 auction, the BOC will allow prospective bidders to inspect the Lamborghini at the Pacific Roadlink Logistics Inc. (PRLI) facility in Angat, Bulacan on May 24.

The three other cars can be inspected on May 23, at the Port Users Confederation (PUC) grounds in South Harbor, Port Area, Manila.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the BOC destroyed hot cars in public to show that the government was serious in its anti-smuggling drive.

But last year, the government changed its tack and turned to auctioning off the luxury vehicles it had seized in a bid to raise more revenues to finance the protracted fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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JPV