The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has taken enforcement action against a prominent car dealership in Co. Wexford.
Ryan Neary, trading at R Neary Motors, Gorey, Co. Wexford has been issued with a written compliance notice and instructed to refund the amount paid for a vehicle for engaging in misleading commercial practices and providing misleading information to consumers.
The move by the CCPC follows a complaint from a consumer who purchased a car from R Neary Motors in 2020.
According to the notice issued by the CCPC, a consumer had purchased a 2011 BMW 730 car from R Neary Motors for €9,950.
Within a few weeks, the consumer experienced problems with the BMW’s engine and had the car inspected by a motor vehicle assessor. The assessor discovered that the BMW car had been imported from the UK in 2017. Prior to being imported, the car had been ‘clocked’ by over 100,000 miles. It has also been previously crashed and classified as an insurance ‘write-off’. The trader had not informed the consumer of this information before they made the decision to buy the car.
While it is not illegal to sell a clocked or crashed car, this information must be shared with the consumer before they make the purchase. It is an offence for traders to give false, misleading or deceptive information about the history of a car and can include information about whether the car was previously involved in a car crash, was recorded as an insurance ‘write off’, or displays the wrong mileage.
Following engagement with the CCPC, the consumer was fully refunded and a compliance notice, issued under section 75 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, was served on the trader. The compliance notice requires the trader to complete history checks on all cars sold in future, and where the car’s odometer does not match what is currently on it, or the car was crashed or damaged, the consumer must be informed.
Even though consumer protection legislation places requirements on traders, the CCPC recommends that consumers should proactively check a car’s vehicle history and use the CCPC’s Car Buyers’ Checklist when buying a second-hand car.
The CCPC also encourages any consumers who suspect they may have been misled by a trader to make a report to the CCPC.
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