QLD Australian Consumer Law - Roadworthy Issue with Car?

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JaeWinter

Member
18 May 2016
2
0
1
I bought a car for $4000 from a small dealer and when I took it in to the maker (Mazda) for a service after 5000km (as per the warranty conditions). They said that the car needed $2500 work to make it roadworthy. When I contacted the dealer about this, they basically said that Mazda overcharge and would be comparing it to a new car, not one that's 12 years old and has done 200,000km. They then said that unless I wanted to pay them to do the servicing / repairs, they didn't want to hear from me again.

I'm just wondering what to do now - should I pay for RACQ insurance or a local mechanic (independent from the dealer or Mazda) to do a roadworthy so I know whether to keep pushing for the dealer to do something about the lemon car under the Australian Consumer Law?

Thank you,
 

JaeWinter

Member
18 May 2016
2
0
1
Purchased in March, and serviced last week.

It's a 2004 model, so this is usual wear and tear. But the issue would have been present at the time of purchase, and therefore, I should have been made aware of them? As I would not have purchased the vehicle had I been aware that it was not meeting the roadworthy requirements (or that these would quickly reduce).
 
S

Sophea

Guest
It is illegal for a dealer to sell a vehicle that is unroadworthy, and there have been cases in NSW where the civil and administrative tribunal has found that a vehicle was not of merchantable quality as it was sold with numerous faults and did not match the description of the advertisement despite having a pink slip at the time of sale and in those cases it has made orders for the return of vehicle and refund to the customer.

Based on the limited information available however I can't say that this will happen in your circumstances. You would likely be required to take the dealer to QCAT to get as far as a refund. If you do that, you will obviously need additional evidence from an independent mechanic.