Second hand car: cover all the bases
Get AA, a second opinion, to check for latent defects
When buying a second-hand car, take it to the Automobile Association (AA) of South Africa and check that all defects are repaired before signing on the dotted line.
Even if the dealer has secured an AA report, you should also get a second opinion.
On March 13, Kgadi Madisa approached Sapphire Auto in Gezina, Pretoria, to buy a car.
She said she had been looking for a fairly new secondhand vehicle when a neighbour told her about the dealership’s new stock.
“I liked the Toyota Corolla Quest, which had only clocked 22 000km and looked new,” said Madisa.
She said if she was not required to take the car for an insurance inspection, she would not have known that it was previously involved in an accident.
Madisa paid a holding deposit of R2 000 and paid the balance of R188 000 on March 25, when she eventually took delivery. Her insurance company gave her 14 days to do an inspection.
Madisa said she did not drive the car often, but two weeks later she started experiencing problems because it kept on losing power. The car later would not start. She had to get her insurance company to tow the car to a Toyota dealership in Groblersdal.
“A technician identified the problem as the petrol pump and also informed me that the car had been resprayed because it had been involved in an accident before,” she said.
She said Toyota SA could not repair the car because it was no longer under warranty or motor plan because it had been involved in an accident.
They quoted her R8 586.80 to fix the car, which she had to settle from her own pocket.
Madisa asked Shammy Naidoo of Sapphire Auto to fix the car under the Consumer Protection Act. Naidoo refused and demanded the car be towed to his dealership, which they did and she paid the towing fees, Madisa said.
She cancelled her contract and demanded a full refund, but Naidoo refused on the grounds that he had disclosed to Madisa that the car had been involved in an accident.
Madisa said it had only clocked 23 690km when she returned it to the dealership, and that “there is nowhere in the sale agreement in which Sapphire Auto disclosed that the vehicle was involved in an accident”.
She said Sapphire Auto’s sale agreement forms did not have a history of the vehicle.
Neither the salesman nor the manager disclosed that the car was involved in an accident, Madisa added.
She said Naidoo later told her that he was within his rights not to refund her.
Naidoo said he wanted Madisa to pay for the kilometres she had driven in the car.
He said he would charge her R2/km and that she must drop her demands for the towing fee incurred. He said he would pay Madisa R190 000.
“I will not pay any interest or towing fees as the applicable usage is then due and payable.
“I believe that this is a fair and equitable trade off as I have also lost the commission that was paid to the salesperson,” Naidoo said.
“I am happy to meet with Madisa and her husband Makgaleng and will make payment upon which she will issue me the NaTIS certificate.”