$87k Maserati damaged but owner won’t get refund
A man whose Maserati shook, shuddered and sounded like a “tractor” when it broke down has failed to force its seller to refund the purchase price after the wrong oil was put in it.
Auckland company C&P Beauty Services bought the Maserati Ghibli for $87,400 in April 2017 with fewer than 9000km on the clock.
But 10 months later, it broke down and needs an engine overhaul, likely to cost “many thousands of dollars”.
Company director Jiawen Tang lodged a case with the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal, seeking to have the $87,400 purchase price refunded.
He claimed seller Penrose-based NZ Motor Sport Imports sold him a car of an unacceptable quality.
According to the tribunal’s December 19 decision, Tang said his problems started about May 2017 when the car started to smoke after it was serviced by Winger Maserati. But when it was returned to Winger twice, they could find no fault.
Tang next had the car serviced in January last year by Newmarket mechanics GT Auto Source, who used Fuchs 5W/30 oil.
But the next month, Tang’s fellow C&P Beauty Services director Xi
Zhou drove the car on the motorway and “it began shaking, with a rattling noise coming from its engine”.
Zhou said the car sounded like a tractor and he pulled over and turned it off. It would not start again.
When it was towed to GT Auto Source, mechanics “found various fault codes” stored in its computer but could not find the fault, disputes tribunal adjudicator Brian Carter wrote.
Winger Maserati later found the pistons had overheated because of “insufficient lubrication”. It said this was due to the use of Fuchs 5W/30 oil, when the car should only be filled with fully synthetic 5W/40 oil. An assessor for the tribunal said an engine overhaul was needed, “costing many thousands of dollars”.
Peter McPhail from NZ Motor Sport Imports said there had been no issues with the car when it was sold. He said it travelled 16,000km without incident after its purchase and only broke down shortly after it was serviced by GT Auto Force with the wrong oil.
He also said C&P Beauty Services had violated the manufacturer’s warranty by not using an authorised Maserati agent to service the car.
Tang said the car’s manual recommended the use of Fuchs 5W/30 oil.
However, Carter said the owner’s manual had been superseded by a bulletin issued by Maserati in May 2017 recommending only 5W/40 oil be used.
Carter consequently did not order NZ Motor Sports Imports to refund the car’s almost $90,000 purchase price to C&P Beauty Services.
It was not the tribunal’s job to determine “what, if any, responsibility GT Auto Source and/or Fuchs NZ” should have for the damage. C&P Beauty Services might choose to explore that separately, he said.