Sold a Used Car by a Car Dealer 5 Years Ago and Found out at Trade in It Had Previously Been Written off Due to Flood Damage

LCloudJumper on 11/08/2015 - 12:42

My wife and I Bought a 2005 Subaru Forester about 5 years ago from a licensed used motor car dealer in Brisbane. It had done almost 60k and we bought it for $16k - it looked to be in pretty good condition and was a reasonable price at the time compared to other listings in the market. This was to used as the family car and at the time my son was just born and my daughter was less than 2 years old. This dealer was well aware of this as the kids were with us and we fitted the babyseat into the car when we purchased it and drove away.

We had some pretty major issues from the start and had thought we had bought a "lemon". One day whilst driving the front left brakes locked and had to be towed back to the dealer to fix. There have always been problems with the electric windows. However we managed to work through these with the dealer and got the car to a satisfactory condition. We regularly went to a specialised subaru mechanic and at trade in the car had done 160k. The mechanic had noted that it appeared someone had attempted large scale repairs including replacing the head gasket.

We decided about 2 weeks ago to trade it in and buy a new car and that's when we found out that it had previously been written off in NSW due to suspected flood damage. This was a year before we bought it in QLD and should have been made known to us at the time prior to us buying it. The dealer that we bought the new car from advised they were not able to sell it and that it would be sold to a wholesaler for parts/scrap resulting in a $2k drop in the trade in which we had to make up. They said we could have sold it privately without disclosing this information to prospective buyer however this wasn't something we were willing to do.

Just putting it out there to the Ozbargain community - is there any recourse that we have now against the original used car dealer either financially or through a regulatory body? It really makes me mad that these poor excuses of human beings would profit from this when they have put our family in danger and no doubt countless others.

Appreciate your responses / comments / advice.

Automotive

Comments

  • spackbace on 11/08/2015 - 12:58
    +1

    Just putting it out there to the Ozbargain community - is there any recourse that we have now against the original used car dealer either financially or through a regulatory body? It really makes me mad that these poor excuses of human beings would profit from this when they have put our family in danger and no doubt countless others.

    Unfortunately no. Repairable write-off doesn't need to be declared. If the car was under finance, all finance companies conduct a REVS check as a standard thing to make sure it isn't written off, and to make sure there's no money owing on it. This should also be a standard thing anyone should do when buying a used car. $16 for far better piece of mind!

    http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Registration/Registering-vehicles/…

    Auction houses and motor dealers selling second-hand vehicles with a written-off classification need to notify buyers of the status. The vehicle must have a label stuck to it, which states whether it is a statutory or repairable write-off.

    Hmm

  • Lysander on 11/08/2015 - 13:16

    See a lawyer asap. The dealer most likely committed a criminal offense by not declaring it, especially if you asked him for anything relevant on the car. See what Spackbace mentioned regarding declaring the status of a car.

  • Lysander on 11/08/2015 - 13:17

    Or initiate a QCAT action which will only costs you around 23 dollars if you are able to write some basic documents and do some explaining at the tribunal yourself. No lawyers allowed there as a starting point (with some very few exceptions).

  • fillit on 11/08/2015 - 13:27
    +1

    From memory, 5 years ago, write offs were on a state based registry. Which is why PPSR (Aus wide) was introduced so that write offs/insurance claims etc. could be easily accessible nationally. I'd imagine if they bothered to check the VIN against the NSW registry back then they would have found it to be a write off, however it likely wont be apparently on the QLD registry.

    • [Deactivated] on 11/08/2015 - 13:53
      +1

      Not really feasible to check all the states for the write off.
      It looks like it was a loophole that many shoddy used car salesmen took advantage of.

  • shannonn54 on 11/08/2015 - 16:52
    +1

    If the mods allow it name this dealer to protect the genuine buyers that may use them

    • fillit on 11/08/2015 - 18:20
      +1

      May have been a genuine mistake on their part, I'm sure there are plenty of people who have purchased non write off lemons. However as always suggested when buying a second hand car, have an independent mechanic check it and do a ppsr search, it costs $4 or ask them to show it to you.

  • Charity on 11/08/2015 - 17:36
    +1

    You are fine, your family is fine and the car is gone. No need to lose sleep over it now.

    This is always one of the risks of buying secondhand. Most times you will win; but this one was a lemon. It might have left a sour taste in your mouth, but 2 grand is peanuts in the scheme of things. Hey, I'm surprised the trade in dealer didn't give you a lot less for it or even wanted it at all!

    Anyways, good luck which ever way you go, Shady (!).

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