One of our clients bought a 2014 Range Rover for his son from the King of Cars dealership in North Rand Road, Boksburg for just under R398 000 excluding the finance charges and interest. Four months later, the son, who was the driver of the vehicle, and was paying the instalments, lost his job, and took the car back to King of Cars. During this time he had driven the vehicle without incident, save that the battery had to be replaced, and put only 2 500km on the clock. But the dealership would not take the car back save to sell it on consignment (which was declined by the consumer) and so they suggested he speak to WeBuyCars.
To his shock and amazement, WeBuyCars offered him only R220 000 (R178 000 less than the purchase price he had paid) stating that the Range Rover was in below average condition and excessive overspray (i.e. resprayed paint) likely indicated sloppy repairs after an accident. He took the car to the Landrover agents who offered him R220 000 and confirmed the defects in the vehicle. He obtained a Dekra report which drew attention to sanding, filler and overspray after an accident, a pronounced oil leak and concerns about the structural integrity of the vehicle as its pillars had also been oversprayed.
When we wrote to the dealership to demand a refund of his original purchase price, the dealership responded that they had purchased the vehicle from WeBuyCars and sent us a copy of the clean Dekra report they had obtained from WeBuyCars four months prior to the very different Dekra report our client obtained. We understand that WeBuyCars has an in-house Dekra branch and they supply Dekra reports along with all of their Category A vehicles. The problem is that this inhouse report did not describe any of the historic defects listed by Landrover, WeBuyCars and the independent Dekra branch. The inhouse Dekra reports are not available on Dekra’s nationwide database on which one can research the condition of a car over its lifetime- another indication that there’s something fishy here.
Our client says he did not cause the defects in the vehicle and did not have an accident with the vehicle and has provided evidence by way of a letter from his insurance confirming that no claims were made in respect of the car.
Where does this leave consumers? Well, the fight continues to obtain proper redress for the client and he has lodged a claim with the National Consumer Commission with a view to claiming his full purchase price back before the National Consumer Tribunal. The Consumer Protection Act entitles consumers to return a defective vehicle within six months of purchase and demand their full purchase price back. Furthermore it prohibits suppliers from charging an unfair price for any goods, so we are in full expectation of success at the Tribunal.
But consumers need to take note of the discrepancy in Dekra reports. This is not the first of our clients who has complained to us of having been supplied with a Dekra report by a dealership which turned out to omit all the defects in the vehicle, even aspects which render the vehicle unroadworthy- this emerged when they took the vehicle to Dekra themselves, unfortunately only after having already bought the car.
We call on Dekra and WeBuyCars to root out inaccurate reporting to restore consumers’ trust in their reports, but in the meantime, we suggest consumers should not place any reliance on Dekra reports supplied by dealerships.