New car warranty

[mr_hz]

Hi,

Just wondering if I can get some advice on this situation before I take things further with the dealer. We bought a brand new car (not demo) from a dealer in Dec 2015, the production date of the car was Sep 2014 and compliance date was Dec 2014 (we knew the car was an older model and a year old when we bought it). We signed a contract for the purchase of a new vehicle. the car only had 10km on it when we bought it.

Here is where things get complicated. We just had the 12 month service done and we were told that it was due for the 2 year service... I said that is not right since we have only owned the car a year. After many phone calls to the dealer and head office we find out that in 2014 the car was registered to someone else, but the deal fell through so the car sat at the dealer for a year before we bought it. So this means the warranty started in 2014 when the car was first registered.

Talking to head office they indicate we will get an extra year warranty. So technically we are now the 2nd owners of the car and was not brand new when we bought it. We never even thought of doing a reg check from a new car dealer.

My question is it even legal for a dealer to sell a car as new even if it had been reg before? Did they need to disclose this to us? We feel like we have been deceived with this and will be talking to the dealer manager when he is back from holidays.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Smitty]

Hi,......................................
My question is it even legal for a dealer to sell a car as new even if it had been reg before? Did they need to disclose this to us? We feel like we have been deceived with this and will be talking to the dealer manager when he is back from holidays.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

No...it can be labelled as 'demo' but not New, that is a misrepresentation
Yes.. they should have told you .. and by not doing so, have technically committed a fraud
You have essentially been asked to pay a new car price for a used car by the 'stealership'


Get ready for a bunfight but in the meantime, I would be getting legal advice, you may well end up in VCAT
....as well as talking to Consumer Affairs about this (lodge a formal complaint if you have to)


oh... and expect a LARGE refund at a minimum here as compensation (remember that cars can drop 20+% in value in the first 12 months)

[mr_hz]

Thanks heaps mate just wondering where I stood with all this as I have never been in this situation before. I think I will talk to the dealership first and see what they say about compensation and if that is not satisfactory I will take it further. This has been the 3rd 'brand new' car we have bought from them, like I said we knew the car was a year old but did not know it was registered.

[seldo]

No...it can be labelled as 'demo' but not New, that is a misrepresentation
Yes.. they should have told you .. and by not doing so, have technically committed a fraud
You have essentially been asked to pay a new car price for a used car by the 'stealership'


Get ready for a bunfight but in the meantime, I would be getting legal advice, you may well end up in VCAT
....as well as talking to Consumer Affairs about this (lodge a formal complaint if you have to)


oh... and expect a LARGE refund at a minimum here as compensation (remember that cars can drop 20+% in value in the first 12 months)
What Smitty says is pretty right, but there is absolutely no doubt that the dealer, ( if what you say is correct) has committed a fraud by selling you a "new" car when it had previously been registered, so it was factually a "second-hand" car.
The warranty on the car starts when the car is first registered, nothing to do with date of manufacture, so your warranty should be valid.
But, unless the dealer is stupid, he may have covered himself within the paperwork when you bought it, so dig that out, go visit your lawyer, and get some advice. Do that before you speak to the dealer again.
I think there is every chance that you may get your purchase-price back, should you so desire....

[mr_hz]

Thanks heaps for the reply mate, the thing is I do want to keep the car since it's a really good car. Getting more info from head office and the dealer in the next few days and will see what they say, will also do a REVS check.

[HSV,_I_GOT_ONE]

If the car was heavily discounted from the new price could that be a weasel clause out for the dealer? Considering it was a year old I would suspect that the price would have reflected this vs a new new car. None the less if it was advertised as a new car then it was definitely sold under false pretenses.

[mr_hz]

Bit of an update the manufacturer will send us a letter stating we will get an extra year warranty from the time we purchased the car. Now waiting on the dealer to confirm if the car was reg before we bought it.

[VTSSDUDE]

I would recommend talking to a solicitor as well.

[mr_hz]

ok another update, dealer got his wires crossed when we first spoke and turns out car was never registered before we bought it (REVS check confirmed this). So it was brand new and we are the 1st owners. For all this mucking around, the dealer is giving us an extra 3 years dealer warranty (not sure what is will cover) but either way we are happy.

[C4B]

ok another update, dealer got his wires crossed when we first spoke and turns out car was never registered before we bought it (REVS check confirmed this). So it was brand new and we are the 1st owners. For all this mucking around, the dealer is giving us an extra 3 years dealer warranty (not sure what is will cover) but either way we are happy.

Do you have to have it serviced at the dealership for the extended warranty to remain valid? The last couple of cars I've bought have come with these faux extended warranties at no cost and they are practically worthless.

[mr_hz]

Yes I do, but thinking of getting it serviced else where anyway, main thing was I got the extra year from the manufacturer.