Oops - I Been Stoopid - Anybody Fancy A Trip To Homebush Pleez

[lesleyjill]

Hi folks I've been lurking her for a while coz I wanted a Stagea and been very impressed with the community spirit here.

Now I've put a deposit on this sight unseen (it's in Sydney and I'm in Adelaide)

Done 167,000km but I figured I'd be OK coz it came with a nationwide warranty but I've since discovered that it ain't worth the paper it's written on.

Also found the dealer has told me a lot of porkies and refuses to give my deposit back ("car has been sent offsite for detailing - too hard to refund blah blah) so now I'm shi***ing myself please pardon my French, and am worried about driving it back to SA.

I've thought of forking out more $$$ for a NRMA inspection but then I thought I'd rather pay a Stagea guru.

Happy to pay someone who knows what they're doing - and it looks like there's a lot of you out there.

All advice gratefully received.

The vin is wrong in the ad - it's 6U9000WGC34083929 it checks out OK (4 owners since imported in 2006 no writeoffs - rego till 7/15)

Also if anyone fancies a road trip to Adelaide I'll pay expenses and fly you back.

Thanks in advance everyone !

my poor old dad is rolling in his grave!! - we spent hours looking at used cars when I was a kid and he always said never trust a dealer
SORRY DAD

[warps]

Can you prove they have lied to you?

If they've lied to you to get you to buy the car, then you have every right to get your money back. Being a business, they're bound by legislation to be up front and honest when describing the goods to you. That's why there's a 3 month stat warranty on used cars bought from a dealer. Used cars must be sold as "fit for purpose".

Don't let them railroad you.

Having said that, you need to have a better reason to pull out of the purchase than buyer's remorse.

[Brick]

Can you prove they have lied to you?

If they've lied to you to get you to buy the car, then you have every right to get your money back. Being a business, they're bound by legislation to be up front and honest when describing the goods to you. That's why there's a 3 month stat warranty on used cars bought from a dealer. Used cars must be sold as "fit for purpose".

Don't let them railroad you.

Having said that, you need to have a better reason to pull out of the purchase than buyer's remorse.

I could be wrong, but I believe the 3 month Stat warranty is onky for cars under 10 years old.

[camr33]

Just out of curiosity mate, but what "porkies" do you mean?

I got burnt buying a 2004 BA Falcon from a dealer a few years ago. A split in the radiator meant the trans flooded within a month or two of buying it. Due to the age of the car and km's, it is "not" subject to a statutory warranty (a car has to be less than 10 years old, and done less then 150k (?) kms to be subject to one.)

I had to write a letter saying that "if I knew what was wrong with the car at the time of buying it, or how much extra it would have cost me, I would not have bought it in the first place". That is the only way to get out of any warranty. Also, that the issue was already wrong with the car at the time of purchase.

When I mentioned legal action if my car wasn't refunded or repaired, he had no hesitation in repairing it. The repair bill came to over $3000, not including close to $1200 I spent servicing it and trying to clear the error codes...

All warranties are not worth the paper they are written on.

It looks like a fairly clean car though, so what seems to be the issue?

[KiwiRS4T]

Looks pretty good in the pics. Is there a commercial inspection service available? I can understand members not wanting to be responsible for your purchase. Would be good to get it road tested and look for evidence of crash repair or respray. At that price and mileage I would get someone to do a cambelt and water pump and check all the belts and hoses - the turbo's days could be numbered but the price looks ok.

[nickcorr]

hmm towbar... 4 owners in 8 years and taken in trade in on something not an import...

Given how cheap this car is, are there really no similar vehicles based in Adelaide?

[Daleo]

If you haven't taken delivery of the car, they cannot refuse refund your deposit.

As yet, they have not provided any kind of service to you. You may walk away from the sale at any point up until the final step. If you have signed no document authorising them to spend money on the vehicle prior to the purchase; all you have paid is a HOLDING DEPOSIT.

Get in touch with fair trading; what they are trying to do is theft.

[lesleyjill]

Thanks y'all - appreciate your input.

I mentioned Fairtrading to the dealer and he wasn't perturbed at all - my word against his I suppose re "misrepresentation", and I gather they're a bit toothless. Josh is right - no stat warranty if over 10 years old.

Bob that's a good point about members not wanting to be responsible - reckon I'll bite the bullet and get an NRMA inspection.

Not much in Adelaide under $8k so I guess even if I'm faced with $2-3k repairs it's not too tragic (and I do like the leather and the "walnut" )

I asked them about the timing belt and they reckon it was done at 150k. Took them a day to email receipt - it's from the place across the road and is a curious document - apart from the "tans fluid" and the "collant flush" - supply and fit timing belt for $350? or am just getting paranoid now? I attach it anyway in case anyone's interested...

[KiwiRS4T]

Receipt looks a bit sus to me. I would have a good look at the car when you get it.

[ShawnG]

LOL Mate,

I have strong doubts about that receipt considering the E-mail address is not even typed up properly.

Depending on the size of the deposit you made I think you should cut your losses just slightly,

I'm going to plug my own car here but I have a Pearl White Stagea for sale as well and it even has a Liquid Injection System.

I guarantee this will get you to Adelaide safe & sound (maybe a punctured tyre, but nothing more!)

I've driven it to Gold Coast & Canberra plenty of times with no worries ! PM me if this is something you may be interested in !

[GH05T]

I mentioned Fairtrading to the dealer and he wasn't perturbed at all - my word against his I suppose re "misrepresentation",

Call them, don't just mention them. have a discussion about everything that happened in full and honestly and get their guidance.

make a decision from there.

do you have a used vehicle contract with anything incorrect or misleading on it? do you have any email correspondents which have misleading information on them?

these will be the reason to cancel a contract easily.

also .. forget warranty on our old imports, realistically its just something you need to understand that grey imports your on your own.

Edited January 13, 2015 by GH05T