Used car salesman in the newspaper for "unreasonable" treatment of UK migrant family

[Jessica Berry]

I remember this contestant and their stuffed mushroom recipe!

 

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/former-my-kitchen-rules-contestant-reade-chandler-ordered-to-refund-family-over-defective-used-car/story-fni6uo1m-1226790780003

[catherine.c]

My daughter bought a car from his garage - went ok but when she tried to part exchange it, turned out it was 2 cars joined together! Consequently scrap value only

[Jessica Berry]

My daughter bought a car from his garage - went ok but when she tried to part exchange it, turned out it was 2 cars joined together! Consequently scrap value only

 

That is terrible.

[Jessica Berry]

Unfortunately as fresh off the boat migrants we can be easy targets, that is why I think it is important for people to be aware of cases like this.

[sidestep]

Yet the SA Govt STILL don't see a reason for mandatory safety tests like the MOT in the UK. Everyone moaned about it but at least your car was checked once a year.

 

In a lot of cases you're better off buying a car from NSW or Vic and re-registering it here as at least they have an MOT equivalent (kind of). Cars that don't pass or that would require work in order to do so often end up being sold in SA to circumvent that requirement.

 

Edit: also in a lot of cases the same car is cheaper to buy in NSW/Vic than it would be here even taking airfares and the drive back into account.

Edited December 29, 2013 by sidestep

[sueoc]

Something i often think about is how friendly and genuinely nice the Aussie public are,yet in complete contrast,in the world of Business and making a buck,no one is more adept at ripping you(and their own) off than the Aussies?Strange!!!!

[zebedee]

Unless you are blessed with a poker face, I am sure the sales people can just smell the "new to the country" in us. Whilst our first car (which is still our car) turned out to be a decent enough buy, we paid too much for it I am sure. It's a totally lottery.

 

One thing we did learn was the value of the RAA. These people are your friends. We joined and had an inspection done on the car before the warranty was up - and we had a few minor issues fixed as a result.

[Jessica Berry]

Unless you are blessed with a poker face, I am sure the sales people can just smell the "new to the country" in us.

 

We were once referred to as 'fresh off the boat' as new migrants. Like you say I am sure some people see us coming, but you live and learn from these experiences.

 

Not long after we arrived I went into the bank in the city to get some money out and once the Manager heard my accent they pounced on me asking if we were looking to buy a house, get a mortgage, did we need insurances etc (at the time when we came over a lot of poms were coming with equity from their UK houses, so the Aussies were switched on to this), I wouldn't have minded but this poor woman had been mugged on Rundle Mall and came into the bank in a bit of a state wanting to cancel cards etc and they made her sit and wait while they tried to sell me stuff!

[clarkes]

Something i often think about is how friendly and genuinely nice the Aussie public are,yet in complete contrast,in the world of Business and making a buck,no one is more adept at ripping you(and their own) off than the Aussies?Strange!!!!

 

There are lots of older cars which would be in the scrap yard back in the UK. They have high price tags as well

[John Browning]

Yes got to agree with that...I've never regretted waiting for the RAA inspection, and paying the fee.

Even when they didn't find anything wrong with a car, the report is a good basis for the first conversation with an Aussie Mechanic when it needed a service.

 

Best of all you can tell in an instant how honest the seller is by asking to wait for the RAA inspection.

 

John B

 

 

 

 

 

Unless you are blessed with a poker face, I am sure the sales people can just smell the "new to the country" in us. Whilst our first car (which is still our car) turned out to be a decent enough buy, we paid too much for it I am sure. It's a totally lottery.

 

One thing we did learn was the value of the RAA. These people are your friends. We joined and had an inspection done on the car before the warranty was up - and we had a few minor issues fixed as a result.

[Anne B]

Back in the 90s we were looking at getting a new (2nd hand) car and went to look at a Commodore advertised in the paper. The seller was a very pleasant elderly gentleman who was selling it for his son who lived in Mount Gambier. It seemed to be in good condition, but we both got a bit suspicious that the seats looked like new and a few things didn't seem quite right. I asked the man to write down the rego on a bit of paper, which he did. At the time I was working at SGIC who then administered CTP insurance so the next day I typed the rego into the computer - it was 'not known'. I thought the guy had written it down wrong (he had swapped 2 letters) so entered the number I thought it was - and hey presto the car details came up. It had been in a serious accident in Mount Gambier and was so badly damaged it was written off. Obviously someone had 'fixed' the damage and tarted the vehicle up for sale in Adelaide. The story the man told us was a load of bull and he had deliberately given us the wrong rego, hoping to prevent us from finding out the truth. Just shows that you really have to be on your guard (and we weren't new migrants, my husband's Australian!).