Meath car dealer prosecuted
23 June 2009
Feltrim Motors Ltd, Ashbourne, Co Meath, has been convicted at Dunshaughlin District Court for offering a 2003 VW Passat (UK import) for sale with an altered odometer reading.
The company was fined €500, and costs totalling €600 were awarded.
The decision to prosecute was made following an investigation by the National Consumer Agency.
When the Agency visited Feltrim Motors on 23 October 2008, it found that the dealer was offering a car for sale with 88,674 miles on the clock. The NCA procured evidence in the UK, which showed that when the car was serviced on 20 December 2005, the mileage reading was 102,894.
Evidence was produced in court that Feltrim Motors sold the car to three separate buyers between April 2006 and July 2007.
Each of the three owners returned the car when they became aware that they had not been given the correct background history of the car.
The NCA had evidence that the car was sold with 36,500 miles on the clock in April 2006. The buyer returned the car and obtained a full refund when he learned that the car had clocked up in excess of 100,000 miles in the UK by December 2005.
The NCA also produced evidence that a second owner, who purchased the car in August 2006 with a mileage reading of 57,000, returned the car and was also compensated when he discovered that he had been misled in relation to the mileage history.
The car was sold for a third time in July 2007 with a mileage reading of 73,000 and was returned to the dealer in May 2008 for another model, when the purchaser learned of the car's prior history.
Commenting on the court outcome, the NCA's Chief Executive Ann Fitzgerald said that the Agency, since its establishment in May 2007, had prioritised the need to tackle the issue of selling or offering for sale clocked cars for sale.
"These practices are prohibited by the Consumer Protection Act 2007. Misleading consumers about the mileage not alone causes serious financial loss to the purchaser, but it also has the potential of putting the buyer and other road users at risk.
"The more wear and tear, the higher the risk of breakdown or accident," she said.
She said this was the second successful prosecution taken by the NCA against car dealers who had misled consumers by selling or offering clocked cars for sale.
It has also obtained undertakings from four car dealers to cease the practice of selling clocked cars or offering clocked cars for sale and to compensate the purchasers who were misled by the practice.
Ms Fitzgerald said: "We intend to continue to use the various enforcement tools available to us under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 in our drive to stop the serious and misleading practice of selling clocked cars to unsuspecting buyers."
She also called on consumers to be vigilant and not to buy on impulse.
She urged prospective car buyers to refer to the NCA's booklet which is available on the NCA website Consumerconnect.ie
"This gives detailed advice to consumers. I would urge all prospective car buyers to act on this advice and check the prior history of second-hand cars before purchase."