Car dealer fined $67,500 for breaching consumer rights

"Traders cannot evade their responsibilities to provide guarantees and remedies under the CGA by using phrases such as 'as is where is'," the Commerce Commission says. Photo / File

By RNZ

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

Auckland motor vehicle trader BNZ JP Euro pleaded guilty to six charges, mostly relating to the sale of 77 vehicles three years ago.

The company, which also operates a car and truck wrecking business in Papakura, had been selling low-priced used vehicles on an "as-is-where-is" basis, with no warranty.

The Commerce Commission, which brought the case, said traders could not contract out of their legal responsibilities with such statements, or require consumers to waive their legal rights.

Two of the vehicles sold needed work that cost nearly as much as the original price of the vehicle.

The firm offered vehicles for sale advertised on Facebook on an "as is where is" basis and asked purchasers to sign an agreement acknowledging there was "no warranty implied or given within it".

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

"Traders cannot evade their responsibilities to provide guarantees and remedies under the CGA by using phrases such as 'as is where is'.

"Where consumers buy vehicles from traders, rather than private sellers, the purchase will always be covered by statutory guarantees, including that the vehicle is of acceptable quality and complies with its description.

"Any attempt by traders to mislead consumers about their rights is likely to breach the Fair Trading Act."

Rawlings said the trader's conduct had real impacts on customers, some of whom felt they had no redress or remedy for faulty vehicles, and that issues were for them alone to deal with.

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

BNZ JP Euro never offered CINs with the vehicles it sold. The firm pleaded guilty to one representative charge relating to failing to display CINs for 16 vehicles sold between October and December 2018.

- RNZ