Raids on dodgy car dealerships
Dodgy cars
EXCLUSIVE: Dodgy car dealers have been caught ripping off customers and selling dangerous vehicles during saleyard raids in Sydney's west.
The crackdown comes after hundreds of consumers complained about damaged cars, odometer interference and botched safety reports.
These used car dealers really live up to the cliché, so Fair Trading took a broom to them, inspecting dozens of vehicles at Minichinbury's Car City complex.
They found dozens of faults, and Wholesale Motor Group even threatened to sue over this story.
Roads and Maritime Services defected one car, police seized incorrect number plates, and Fair Trading found 52 breaches for trading from an unlicensed premises.
It also found incomplete or missing forms failing to produce its prescribed register, and falsifying safety inspection reports.
"Around 260 complaints received within this complex alone, dealers, and about 150 of those relate to four motor dealers in particular,” NSW Fair Trading’s Matthew Whitton said.
Others cars were hastily driven away from the complex, police took down their details.
Many of the worst offenders engage in what's known as 'phoenixing', or 'rising from the ashes' of one business that's been tainted by complaint after complaint.
The business operates under an entirely new name, but engages in the same dodgy practices.
Nathan Woodlands is a victim who had the gearbox in his $12,000 purchase blow up, only minutes after he left the complex.
"I had to get the diff rebuilt two weeks after I got the car as well,” victim Nathan Woodlands said.
Other victims are urged to contact Fair Trading.
