Garage owners are worried about the logistics involved in new legislation allowing them to loan cars to customers while they have their vehicles repaired.

The expense of keeping the cars and insurance issues were two of the potential problems highlighted by garages this week.

Transport Minister Ewart Brown introduced the legislation in the House of Assembly last Friday night.

The legislation allows for garages and car dealers to own up to five passenger cars, five commercial vehicles, and two taxis to lend to customers while their vehicles are off the road ? completely free of charge.

?That?s a problem, because it?s expensive to keep a car,? Rayclan manager Dennis Greenslade told ?The licensing fee for an average car is $700 ... Not everybody is going to be able to get one and get nothing back from that.?

Insurance costs would be phenomenal, he said.

?The insurance on a loaner car that anybody and everybody can drive? And insurance is not going to pay for damages if the customer was drinking and driving (a loaner car). We will get lumped with that.?

Holmes, Williams & Purvey (HWP) president and CEO Jonathan Brewin was also concerned about the running costs, depreciation costs, and insurance costs involved in keeping a car.

There are costs involved on the administration side too, he said. The Transport Control Department (TCD) and the Ministry of Transport are ?quite rightly concerned? about people having more than one car on the road, and garages will also have to monitor the cars being returned, Mr. Brewin said.

Both Mr. Brewin and Mr. Greenslade were concerned about enforcing proper use of the cars. For example, Mr. Greenslade wondered what would happen if a customer were to get into an accident driving a loaner car.

?The cars have to be insured. If the customer is hit by someone else, if they are third party, the insurance company has to take responsibility.

?Right now the insurance pays for taxis while your car is in the shop, or your bike rental. But they don?t pay for loaners, leaving the responsibility on the garages.?

The insurance companies providing the loaner cars, rather than the garages, was one suggestion he put forward. ?There are thousands of different ways to look at it.?

If new parts are needed for whatever reason, the vehicle may have to stay in the garage for weeks until the part arrives on the Island ? meaning the customer will be driving a loaner for the entire time, with all the potential problems that presents. ?It?s a couple of weeks that I have a problem with.?

On the other hand, he added, if a single mother with three children comes leaves her car for a day or two to be services, ?I see no problem with that. Whether a customer will receive a loaner should be up to the discretion of the garage, he said ? however, he added, even that presented problems. ?If a guy walks in, I can?t say this guy looks sketchy, I won?t give him a car.?

Both HWP and Rayclan will be opting to bring in loaner cars, but neither were presently looking at the trucks or taxis. Mr. Greenslade added: ?There?s no way I could afford to bring in more than five cars.

?I think the concept is good,? he said. ?But there?s a lot of logistics around it that I?m not sure how they?re going to handle.?

?We are all very mindful of the need for a higher level of service,? said Mr. Brewin, adding that Consumer Affairs has done a good job of monitoring service levels.

But, he added: ?It?s just a matter of trying to meet people?s expectations while making economic sense.?

TCD director Kevin Monkman was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.