SELLING vehicles with a tampered odometer is an old trick used by unscrupulous car dealers to defraud unsuspecting consumers of their hard-earned money and joy...
Gavin Makhanya , 35 , of Pretoria, who has now relocated to Botshabelo in Bloemfontein, bought a 2005 BMW from Nissan Silverton branch in Pretoria, thinking it was a good buy as its odometer showed it had low mileage.
But he only drove 5,000km before the car broke down, he claims.
"It lost power and smoked like a goods train before the engine seized up," he said.
The car did not show signs of being older than it was when he bought it, as Makhanya reckoned the interior and overall condition matched the mileage on theodometer.
Makhanya said whoever had tampered with the mileage did a perfect job, as the dashboard had been taken apart.
He said he never thought a digital odometer could be tampered with.
He had also looked on the side panel at the door for the service tags that usually indicate the date of the last service, to no avail.
"I then asked for the service book and was told I would get it as soon as the principal dealer had located it," he said.
Makhanya said he nonetheless went ahead and bought the car after he had been assured that everything was in order.
The car was financed by Wesbank who later paid them (the dealer) R152,842 they had demanded, Makhanya said.
Makhanya said after the car died on him, he called a BMW dealer who towed the car to a garage for inspection. That was when he discovered that the odometer had beentampered with.
Makhanya also has a "Motor Mend" universal pre-owned mechanical breakdown warranty he hoped he could use in case of emergency, but could not do so because the insurance company needed his service record for the car before they could repair it.
He said the dealer could not provide him with the service book and, out of desperation, he approached a BMW dealership in Pretoria and was given the service and other records of the car.
"To my surprise I discovered that the car was last serviced on September 16 2008 with the mileage on 382229km," he said.
This was three times the reading that was displayed on the odometer. He forwarded this evidence to the Nissan dealer for an explanation and, more importantly, to try to opt out of the deal, but was unable todo so.
"I guess no one would ever think that dealership with the reputation of Nissan would sell a car with a tampered mileage and later give its client the run-around," he said.
He said they had not even bothered to respond to his e-mails.
"I think I was defrauded," he said. His car is currently standing at the dealership garage amassing storage fees to the tune of R200 per day. Makhanya's plea is for Nissan to settle the outstanding payment as well as the storage fees.
Joseph Sibeko, sales manager at Nissan, said they were investigating Makhanya's problem and offered to respond as soon as they had spoken to the person who allegedly sold them the car.