The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town. (Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp)
- The Western Cape High Court has told a Belville car dealership to refund a customer for a car which went wrong from the start.
- Justice has been a long time coming for car owner, who first lodged a complaint against Cape SUV with the National Consumer Commission almost four years ago.
- In February this year, the National Consumer Tribunal ordered the dealership to collect the dodgy Diahatsu Terios SUV from the owner within five business days, and to refund her purchase price of almost R152 000. The dealership appealed that judgment, and has now lost its High Court bid.
- For more consumer news, go to News24 Consumer Lookout.
It’s not unusual for car dealerships to claim that a car’s gearbox issues were caused by the owner’s “driving style”, particularly in the case of women.
But the National Consumer Tribunal was having none of that when it considered Alison Evans’ complaint against Unicity Trading, trading as Cape SUV, when it deliberated the case in February.
As there was no evidence to support “driving style” claim, the tribunal dismissed it as speculation.
Evans bought the vehicle – a Daihatsu Terios – in June 2019, after taking it on a short test drive.
The day she took delivery of it, she realised that it had a shudder and an “uneven drive”.
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On reporting this to the dealership, she was told that that was just the way the vehicle drove, and that there was nothing wrong with it.
The dealership repaired the car three times, and the day after it was returned to Evans after the third repair – in September 2019 – the gearbox failed.
At that point Evans, via her attorney, asked that the deal be cancelled and the Terios be returned for a refund of the purchase price.
Cape SUV refused, which led to Evans lodging a complaint with the commission, which referred the case to the tribunal.
The Consumer Protection Act states that if a supplier repairs goods or any component of such goods and within three months, the defect has not been remedied, or “a further defect is discovered”, the supplier must refund the consumer.
On that basis, the tribunal ruled that the dealership collect the vehicle within five business days and refund her the R152 000 purchase price within 30 business days.
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The dealership appealed that judgment and the matter then proceeded in the High Court in Cape Town.
“There is no doubt it was defective from the start,” the court found, in dismissing the appeal last week.
Cape SUV was ordered to refund Evans the purchase price and collect the Terios this week.
In welcoming the High Court decision, acting tribunal commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu said it should send a strong message to suppliers “who disregard the rights of consumers”.
“This judgment not only affirms the rights of consumers as enshrined in the CPA, but also the NCC’s approach in dealing with these matters,” he said.
“The NCC has particularly prioritised the second-hand motor vehicle industry, given the high volumes of complaints received from disgruntled consumers,” said Ratshisusu.
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