THREE months after the Consumer Protection Act was implemented, used car dealers still sell defective vehicles to consumers

Some flout the provisions of the National Credit Act and make consumers pay deposits before assessing their ability to repay.

Hessie Rakgwadi and Sipho Sibeko had their money refunded only after Sowetan stepped in.

Consumer Line helped them recoup R105,000 collectively from two different car dealers.

Rakgwadi, 60, was heading for a heart attack when a car dealer who sold her a defective vehicle played hide and seek with her.

But last Thursday R75,000 was deposited into her account - only two hours after we stepped in.

Rakgwadi, a breadwinner, retired in May and wanted to augment her income since her pension would not be enough to maintain her family.

"I decided to buy a second-hand Condor to transport children to and from school," Rakgwadi said.

She was going to hire her unemployed son, who was retrenched, to transport the children, she said.

She went to André B Smit Motors in Zambezi Street, Pretoria, when she saw an advert in a magazine.

Though the car was towed to her for inspection, she agreed to pay a holding deposit of R800, she said.

"The salesman said only the terminals had to be fixed so I paid the deposit," she said.

A week later salesman Louis Botha called her and saidthe car was ready. She said she would collect it at the weekend because she wanted her brother-in-law to see and test drive it.

"While he checked the car, I was whisked to the bank to transfer the money," she said.

Later she realised the vehicle was faulty.

She said Botha insisted that the balance of R74,200 had to be transferred immediately and not within the three-days waiting period from bank to bank .

"I did this at an additional cost of R35," Rakwadi said.

When her brother-in-law picked up more defects, he told the dealer to call Botha to stop the transfer.

"But he withheld this information and only told me his boss had complained that we were taking too long at the bank," Rakgwadi said.

She demanded her money back, but was told the owner was away on business. A day later he would not take her call and each time she called, she was told he was busy.

Botha confirmed the vehicle was defective, but said they could not refund the money because the owner was away . He agreed to cancel the contract and refund the money. But then the owner threatened Rakgwadi with legal action for approaching Sowetan .

• Sibeko deposited R30,000 into Tovani Motors of Pretoria's account for a car costing R70,000, he said.

"Two days later I was told I had failed the repayment affordability test. I asked for my money back, but was told I could only be refunded after two months," Sibeko said.

Consumer Line stepped in and he was refunded R29,000 last week and R1,000 on Monday.