I bought a vehicle from a used car yard. More and more problems emerge with it. What can I do?I bought a vehicle from a used car yard but after a few days I noticed it was in a bad state with issues such as oil leaks and bad suspension. The seller was contacted but wouldn’t answer the phone. Engine troubles then presented themselves. Fair Trading became involved and I was without a vehicle for four months. After retrieving the vehicle, more problems emerged.
Under the ACL, remedies are available for lemon cars, but they depend on whether the fault is major or minor. You did the right thing by going to Fair Trading and it sounds like the fault was assessed as minor, which entitles you to a repair – which you got. Given that your car was not fixed in a reasonable amount of time and your car has ongoing problems, this can now be treated as a major fault.
Your first steps are to contact the dealer and Fair Trading again. Call them but also put everything in writing, documenting the full history of your issue. Under the NSW Motor Dealers and Repairers Act 2013, Fair Trading is the first port of call in resolving disputes about defective motor vehicles.Ncat can make orders, which include the payment of money to you or the full repair or replacement of the car.
Once you’ve applied to Ncat, you can expect to wait at least six or so weeks to be issued a hearing date, but the issuing of the hearing date and the timing of the hearing date itself will depend on Ncat’s case backlog. We checked with Ncat, and they said that for motor vehicle issues, it is generally around six weeks at the moment.