Timaru car dealer fined for concealing crash damage

A Timaru car dealer has pleaded guilty to breaching the Fair Trading Act for selling a $27,000 BMW without disclosing it had been damaged.

Lincoln Darren, of Mike Darren Motors, imported a BMW 318i from Japan in March 2003.

It had been in a crash but but when he sold the car, Darren ticked the 'no' box on the Supplier Information Notice, where it asked whether the car had been damaged.

The new owner found out only when she tried to trade it in elsewhere.

Darren was fined a total of $8000.