NSW Major Issues with Car - Pursue Under Australian Consumer Law?

Australia's #1 for Law
Join 150,000 Australians every month. Ask a question, respond to a question and better understand the law today!
FREE - Join Now

Nitin Mishra

Member
4 March 2017
1
0
1
Hi,

Just wanted to know where I stand in regards to a used car I bought just over 2 years ago. I wouldn't bring this up. I let you guys know what's happened and see where I might stand I guess.

So as I was saying, the car was purchased 2 years ago (it was 7 years old at the time, with only 84000 km on the clock). I bought it for around $14000 and with a extended warranty. Around 4 months ago, it wouldn't shift gear, so I've taken it to the mechanic to have a look, thinking it was just a normal repair work, but they told me that I'd need to take it to an Auto Transmission Place.

So I called the dealer (where I bought it from) and they advised to take it to a KIA dearlership. At this time, I rang the warranty company in regards to my next move. I was told to take it to the Transmission place, which I did. The serviceman when I bought the car in said to me "It's back".

I had no idea what this meant so he explained to me that car had a history of being in his workshop and that I wasn't the 1st, so he did the test and from there was advised by the warranty company to take it to the KIA dealership in my area. They fixed the issue, or so I thought. But the 3 weeks ago, it started happening again and this time I had my family in the car and was almost involved in a car accident.

By this time, I was fuming at the whole thing.

I went back to the KIA dealership who had claimed to have fix the problem, and it wasn't. They retested everything and couldn't find anything and they suggested to take back to a Transmission Center, which the KIA dealer organised for me. This time it was another transmission center, when the car arrived there, the serviceman there said to me that he's had my car in there before as well. I couldn't believe it when a different serviceman was saying the same thing.

I believe that the original dealer had sold the car to me without advising me about these issue and quite clearly put my family's life in danger. If I knew about these problems, I clearly would not have bought the car.

As to what I'd do now, I'm really unsure as I still have some money owing on the car. Is this something I pursue under Australian Consumer Law?
 

Lance

Well-Known Member
31 October 2015
852
123
2,394
Hi Nitin,

Car dealers are prohibited under the Australian Consumer Law from:
  • Misleading or deceptive conduct,
  • Making false representations (statements or claims about the vehicle), and
  • Unfair contract terms.
So look even though it has been 2 years since you purchased it I think you have grounds to have a good talk with the dealer. You might want to mention that the 2 auto transmission shops you visited have provided evidence (don't mention its witness statements at this stage) that the vehicle is been in with the same fault.

If the dealership is found to have knowledge of this ongoing fault you could argue they made false representation / misleading or deceptive conduct.