Auto dealer fined $ 67,500 for violating consumer rights

By RNZ

A used car dealer was fined $ 67,500 for misrepresenting consumers’ rights and failing to provide them with the required information.

Auckland motor vehicle dealer BNZ JP Euro pleaded guilty to six counts, most related to the sale of 77 vehicles three years ago.

The company, which also operates a car and truck demolition business in Papakura, had been selling cheap used vehicles “as is” with no warranty.

The Commerce Commission, which filed the case, said the merchants could not waive their legal responsibilities with such statements, nor require consumers to waive their legal rights.

Two of the vehicles sold required work that cost almost as much as the original price of the vehicle.

The company offered vehicles for sale advertised on Facebook “as is” and asked buyers to sign an agreement acknowledging that “there was no warranty implied or given in it.”

“Those statements were misleading, because they suggested that consumers had no rights if something went wrong with the vehicle when in reality the CGA applies to used motor vehicles,” Commerce Commission Chair Anna Rawlings said today in a statement.

“Merchants cannot evade their responsibilities to provide warranties and repairs under the CGA by using phrases like ‘as is where it is.’

“When consumers buy vehicles from dealers, rather than private sellers, the purchase will always be covered by legal guarantees, including that the vehicle is of acceptable quality and meets its description.

“Any attempt by merchants to mislead consumers about their rights is likely to violate the Fair Trade Act.”

Rawlings said that the dealer’s conduct had a real impact on customers, some of whom felt they had no compensation or remedy for the defective vehicles, and that the problems were just for them.

“In four cases that we know of, consumers purchased vehicles that required substantial repairs. In at least two of those cases, the cost was about the same as the purchase price of the vehicle itself.”

BNZ JP Euro never offered CIN with the vehicles it sold. The firm pleaded guilty to a representative charge related to not displaying the CINs of 16 vehicles sold between October and December 2018.

– RNZ