A vehicle was financed. The car finance company had their staff set up at the dealership. The dealership first gave me the wrong vehicle all together (rwd petrol). Then they gave me the correct type (4x4 diesel), but it had mechanical & cosmetic problems ( flaked paint, oil leaks, dodgy suspension, etc).
I advised them all the problems, which they said they would fix but never did and started ignoring my phone calls. I then had multiple mechanics look at the car and had to spend over $3000 on repairs to get it up to scratch, as two of the mechanics told me it wasn't even roadworthy. One of the mechanics asked where I got the car from as I told them I hadn't owned it for long, and when I told them, they straight away knew who it was and how dodgy they were.
The dealership has mechanics on site and it turns out one of them was writing dodgy roadworthy certificates on vehicles that had been purchased at auctions or repairable write-offs and had been in trouble with transport main roads because of it. I went to confront the dealership in person, only to find that they had packed up and were no longer there.
Because of the money I had to spend on repairs, I wasn't able to make the payments and I advised the finance company of the situation, which they didn't care about, even though they had their staff working out of the dealership. I then had more problems with the vehicle and had to spend more money.
I ended up selling it out of frustration and telling the car finance company to get lost, as they wouldn't assist me in finding where the dealer had gone and were involved with it. I suspect they know about how dodgy it is as their staff worked at the dealer. Now they are threatening to report the car as stolen if I don't comply and make payments or give back the car which I no longer have.
So my question is, where do I stand with this situation and is what I've done a criminal act or civil matter?
I told the finance company that they can take it up with the dealership for money owed as it's their fault in the first place. I want to take action against both the dealer and finance company but don't know how to go about it.
I advised them all the problems, which they said they would fix but never did and started ignoring my phone calls. I then had multiple mechanics look at the car and had to spend over $3000 on repairs to get it up to scratch, as two of the mechanics told me it wasn't even roadworthy. One of the mechanics asked where I got the car from as I told them I hadn't owned it for long, and when I told them, they straight away knew who it was and how dodgy they were.
The dealership has mechanics on site and it turns out one of them was writing dodgy roadworthy certificates on vehicles that had been purchased at auctions or repairable write-offs and had been in trouble with transport main roads because of it. I went to confront the dealership in person, only to find that they had packed up and were no longer there.
Because of the money I had to spend on repairs, I wasn't able to make the payments and I advised the finance company of the situation, which they didn't care about, even though they had their staff working out of the dealership. I then had more problems with the vehicle and had to spend more money.
I ended up selling it out of frustration and telling the car finance company to get lost, as they wouldn't assist me in finding where the dealer had gone and were involved with it. I suspect they know about how dodgy it is as their staff worked at the dealer. Now they are threatening to report the car as stolen if I don't comply and make payments or give back the car which I no longer have.
So my question is, where do I stand with this situation and is what I've done a criminal act or civil matter?
I told the finance company that they can take it up with the dealership for money owed as it's their fault in the first place. I want to take action against both the dealer and finance company but don't know how to go about it.
