Dealer told to refund car purchase

A GOLD Coast-based car dealer has been ordered to pay back almost $70,000 after a luxury car was so riddled with defects the owner was experiencing on average a fault every tank of fuel.

James Frizelle’s Automotive Group was ordered to pay the Land Rover’s owners Joanne Sullivan and Russell Bozkewycz $69,990 by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, after they demanded a refund.

The couple had experienced multiple problems with the car they owned between September 2019 and March 2020.

The faults included:

● The car’s gear box failing on the day of delivery, taking it off road for three weeks.

● The tailgate button failing.

● Intermittent failure of the electronic break and a loose gearshift paddle.

● A sunglasses holder jam.

● Fault in the cooling fan.

● Windscreen washer tank leak and a “clunk” in the suspension.

“The applicants calculated that they had approximately 1.5 faults per month, which they equated to ‘a fault per tank of fuel’,” the QCAT judgment said.

The QCAT judgment said James Frizelle Automotive did not deny any of the defects but disputed whether the faults amounted to a “major failure” meaning the car should be refunded.

QCAT member Glen Cranwell wrote in his judgment: “I find the series of defects set out above, taken together, are such that a reasonable consumer fully acquainted with the nature and extent of the failure, would not have acquired the motor vehicle.

“I emphasise that my finding is based on the series of defects taken together.”

Mr Cranwell said many of the defects, such as the jam in the sunglasses holder, would not have amounted to a major failure if considered on their own.

He also commended James Frizelle Automotive for not disputing the facts in the proceedings which avoided a lengthy hearing.

Mr Cranwell ordered Ms Sullivan and Mr Bozkewycz to return the car and James Frizelle Automotive to refund the $69,990 that Ms Sullivan and Mr Bozkewycz had paid for the vehicle.