1. Cars home
  2. Motoring Rules & Regulations

Ask an expert

apeman110
By apeman110 | AA Member | 1 Post | 5 April 2017 at 8:36pm

Hi there. I have been misled by a motor vehicle trader regarding a used car purchase (Hutt Valley Wholesalers Ltd, who appear to be somehow affiliated with the AA as the logo is all over the website). I purchased the 1999 car (reg DMT19) in November 2016 for $4000 with a brand new WOF and it looked and drove great, with only 58,000 km on the clock. There were some minor cosmetic issues and surface rust which the dealer pointed out but everything looked OK. I then took this vehicle for a warrant of fitness yesterday (6 months from purchase) and have been informed by my mechanic the prior warrant issued to the vehicle by the dealers garage must have been fraudulent as it was not fit for road use. Rear metal brake lines were rotten and clearly had been for some time, and the front brake rotors were pitted and unsafe. These issues are being repaired by my mechanic. More seriously however the rear subframe assembly was found to be flaking rust, with significant underbody rust present which my mechanic says will need professional work before the next warrant will be issued. Just looking for some advice as to how best to proceed with approaching the dealer to make a complaint using the CGA. I thought purchasing a vehicle from an AA affiliated dealer would have been a safe and pleasant experience :(

Anon
By Cade | AA Expert | 3937 Posts | 6 April 2017 at 9:25am

Hi there,
From what we can see, this trader is not associated with the AA, the logo is a link to our website and we're not sure why its there (just like the VTNZ one next to it). Have you asked the dealer what association he has? We will be following this up, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Under the CGA you must give the dealer first right of repair, and the remedies available depend on the classification of the faults, serious or non-serious. Non serious faults can be repaired by the dealer as they see fit, serious faults can be repaired, car returned, swapped or refunded with agreement between the parties as part of the remedy.
Information can be found here: https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/get-guidance/cars-and-motoring/solving-issues-with-your-car-dealer/