CONSUMERS who buy defective cars continue to suffer prejudice in the name of the Consumer Protection Act.

Mikateko Mathebula claims she is a victim of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act that allow service providers to charge fees for the use of their wares even when such fees are not justifiable.

She accuses her financier, Motor Finance Corporation, of also taking advantage of her situation by preventing her from claiming back her instalment.

Early this month Consumer Line ran an article in which Mathebula accused two Mpumalanga car dealers of selling her a car that had allegedly been written off. The dealer has now settled her debt of R150000 but she has not been refunded the R28000 she paid to service her loan.

Mathebula is also angry at Nedbank, accusing its staff of blocking her from exercising her right to claim the money she paid on a car that was allegedly written off.

She was advised not to reclaim her instalments because the dealer had a right to also claim fees for the usage of the car.

"What kind of protection am I enjoying from the Consumer Protection Act if dealers are also allowed to claim mileage after selling a written-off car?" she asked.

Her problems began when she and her fiancé desperately needed a car to get to work.

They saw a Toyota Corolla at Greenacres dealership in White River and decided to buy it.

Although she got the car from Greenacres, she signed the contract at Auto Select in Nelspruit, a dealership introduced to Mathebula as a partner who kept all the car documents.

Mathebula said she was assisted by her fiancé, who pointed out that there was a fault with the airbags as their warning light on the dashboard was constantly on when they were driving to Nelspruit.

Though she still had a chance to return the car to the dealer she proceeded to Nelspruit, thinking she had clinched the best deal ever.

It took her three months to discover that she had been sold a car that had been written off. She discovered this only when she met the vehicle's previous owner.

Mathebula said she did not believe it until the previous owner showed her pictures of the car.

Mathebula said she did not disclose this information - that the car had been rebuilt - to Motor Finance Corporation, a division of Nedbank.

The dealer, Andre Franken from Mpumalanga Auto Select, agreed to settle her loan. He said he did not have first-hand information on the previous history of the vehicle, adding that he had purchased the car from a third party.

Franken said: "Any defects or history should be disclosed and signed off by that person. Should that not happen that person would be liable for non-disclosure according to the Consumer Protection Act."

He said all paperwork and documentation supplied to the dealership was in order.

He said the car's registration papers also indicated that the vehicle had been used and not rebuilt.

Mathebula was thankful that her loan amount has now been paid in full, but questions the manner in which her rights have been trampled.

She said: "Thanks for helping me resolve this problem, but we still want to know what happened to the instalments we paid to Nedbank for the past seven months."

She said she also felt she had not received enough protection because Mpumalanga Auto Select want the couple to use the same vehicle to trade in at their dealership and that is not what they want.

She said she was disturbed that a Nedbank consultant had "advised us not to demand a refund as that would allow the dealer to charge us kilometres we accumulated" since they took possession of the car.

" I found that strange, more especially coming from a bank employee who should know by now that the car was a write-off," Mathebula said.

Nedbank has not commented on her latest allegation, but confirmed that the debt is now paid in full.