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Hello,

I have found a serious fault with my car during a regular maintenance check. There is damage to the chassis, which I know I did not cause.

The reason I know I did not cause this damage is because I have had it looked at by both a mechanic and panel beater, who have said that if I had caused this, I would have known about it and it would need to be claimed on insurance.

The damage is so bad and costly to repair that it will not pass it's WoF when the time comes around.

The issue is that there was a *new* WoF when I purchased the car, and it passed.

Not only this, but there was a false claim that the car was being sold with AA certification, when in fact it had expired. I have proof of this.

What steps should I take so that I can get my money back for this vehicle?

Hi MsMarsh. You raise a number of questions here, but the first question I'd ask you is "did you buy this car from a dealer?"
If you did, there is a possibility of getting some resolution or compensation, however it will not be easy to prove after 6 months that the damage was pre-existing at the time of purchase.
If you purchased the vehicle privately, it will be very difficult to get any compensation.
I'm not sure what you mean by "the car had AA certification". There is really no such thing, however, the seller may have been referring to odometer certification or a compliance inspection if the car was an import. Neither of these things are an AA Pre-purchase inspection though, which would have highlighted chassis damage.
Depending on how recently the car was imported and whether or not you were the first NZ owner, if the car had gone through an AA compliance inspection, it definitely wouldn't have passed if it had chassis damage. Likewise, if the damage will prevent the car from getting a WoF now, how did it pass last time?
In answer to your final question about what steps you can take, firstly contact the seller. If the seller fails to accept responsibility (which I suspect is likely), you can take the matter to the Disputes Tribunal (or Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal in the event the seller was a dealer).
Unfortunately though, this will be a very difficult case to win after 6 months, as the arbitrator will want proof that the vehicle was damaged at the time of purchase. As (I'm assuming) you didn't have a Pre-purchase inspection carried out or inspect the underside of the car, you have little chance of proving the damage was there at the time of purchase.
So sorry to say, but this will not be an easy one to win.

Hi again,

To answer your questions, No, I did not have a pre purchase inspection conducted as the advertisement says that there had already been one done. After I checked the report I was surprised to find that it had been from when the odometer had read 30,000kms less from when I had purchased the car. I was the first person to register the car in NZ, yet there is a large window of 30,000km driven where it was possibly not registered and also when the damage could have happened.

I question the validity of the WoF myself, as indeed, how did it pass? Is the dealership in cahoots with the testing station? "They are regular customer, send them on through?" I may be able to get something from false advertising of the car, as it appears there was major repairs done to the body work as almost the whole thing has been fixed. I would question as to "How can the underside be damaged so badly and the rest of the car not show signs of damage?" The panel beater has agreed that it was suspicious.

OK, so you bought the vehicle from a dealer. This does provide some hope that you can get some compensation, but if the dealer declines to help and you have to take this matter to the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal, you will still be required to convince the tribunal that the damage was pre-existing. This may be difficult to prove after 6 months.
However, if you believe (or have evidence from the panel beater) that the chassis damage was the result of an accident to another part of the car, as you seem to be saying in your second post, this will help your case. If the chassis damage is the result of an under-body impact, you are in a more difficult position.
Another possible avenue open to you if you believe the vehicle was issued with a bogus WoF is to report the WoF issuing garage to NZTA.