Car dealer fined for ‘as is, where is’ online ads
A car dealership has been fined $75,000 for misrepresenting consumers’ rights when selling used vehicles and failing to display important vehicle information.
Vehicle Logistics, which trades as Ssangyong Takanini in Auckland, was sentenced on Wednesday in the Papakura District Court on eight charges brought by the Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act.
Vehicle Logistics sold trade-in vehicles via $1 reserve auctions on Trade Me.
Five of the charges relate to representations Vehicle Logistics made in its Trade Me listings that the vehicles were offered for sale on an on ‘‘as is, where is basis’’ and claiming no guarantee or warranty applied.
The commission’s consumer manager, Stuart Wallace, said by stating that vehicles were ‘‘as is, where is’’, the trader attempted to avoid its obligations under the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA).
‘‘Those statements were misleading, because they were an attempt to contract out of the CGA. Traders cannot evade their responsibilities to provide guarantees and remedies under the CGA by using phrases such as ‘end of life vehicle’ or ‘suitable for parts only but runs well’,’’ Wallace said.
In sentencing, Judge Gerard Winter said the firm was ‘‘lazy if not wilfully blind to its obligations in the internet space’’, and that there was ‘‘absolutely no difference’’ between physical and online sale.
The other three charges were for failing to display or provide access to consumer information notices (CINs). Motor vehicle traders are required to include a CIN, or access to it, in their online advertising for a vehicle, when it is possible for a consumer to buy the vehicle online.
The charges cover 382 vehicle listings between June 2015 and January 2017, offered for sale via two Trade Me memberships operated by Vehicle Logistics sales staff.
The firm repeatedly ignored warnings by Trade Me to correct its errors, the commission said.
Vehicle Logistics has since changed the way it listed used motor vehicles on Trade Me, after being informed of the commission’s investigation.