Case of buyer beware, even at dealers
If you’ve bought a car and landed a lemon, you have a right to cancel the deal – but you must move swiftly
BUYING a second-hand vehicle can be a minefield, which is why it’s advisable to work through a dealership, because reputable companies offer customers peace of mind that the vehicle will have undergone proper roadworthiness inspections, the paperwork will be in order and, if anything goes wrong within a specified guarantee period, it will be repaired at their cost. Or, so you’d think.
Naison Chirapura elected to buy his second-hand car through a reputable dealer and soon regretted it. Now, he wants to cancel the deal.
Chirapura, a first- time buyer, found his dream car, a 2013 Audi A3 TFSI S 3DR, at Williams Hunt in Fourways and took it home on Friday, September 29, 2017. The following day, he excitedly went through the user’s manual and noticed problems: The boot would only open with a remote and the speakers were torn. Those were the least of his problems. That Sunday, October 1, the engine cut out on the highway.
“My girlfriend and I had decided to take the car to church and, on our way there, I noticed the car vibrating when I stopped at traffic lights, and that the turbo was struggling to kick in after acceleration. In addition to this, the engine light would start flashing on the dashboard and the EPC (electronic power control) light was on all the time, even when the car was in motion. Furthermore, the back shocks were making a noise when the car was moving,” he says.
He managed to get to church, but on his way home, the car had no power and lost the turbo.
“It would cut off at traffic lights and intersections. The engine light again started flashing and the EPC light was still on, the car was struggling to accelerate and climb up hills and, if put into third gear, it would cut out, forcing me to move into second gear. Also, the automatic start and stop function was not working and the car itself said the function was not operating.”
The following business day, he notified Williams Hunt and Wesbank that he wanted to cancel the deal. He asked the dealer to replace his car with another A3. Williams Hunt refused, only offering a repair.
No papers
Oddly, he’s still waiting for the roadworthiness certificate, a service book, or proper diagnostic reports that should have been conducted before it was sold, in an “excellent running condition”, to him.
What he has been provided with is a questionable used-car report, which notes a different mileage, does not detail when it was conducted, by whom or any other vital information.
Dealer principal Earle Austin told me: “We view the statements from our customer as extremely serious. As such, I would like to propose a meeting between yourself and all the relevant parties… Kindly note the following: (The) customer’s vehicle was attended to by Audi and under the Audi warranty. We supplied a courtesy vehicle for the customer while his vehicle was being attended to by Audi. All faults have been attended and repaired as per our legal obligation. While we fully understand and sympathise with the inconvenience and frustration the customer experienced, it was unforeseen and attended to as soon as we could in a fashion that would be expected.”
But Chirapura is not taking