Car buying is an extreme sport, highly dangerous for novices and the unprepared.
The consequences of choosing the wrong dealership and the wrong car can be catastrophic, and even if you get that right, the structuring of the dealership’s offer to purchase and finance contract can have you drastically overpaying if you don’t know what to look out for.
If you’re not interested in poring over the details of contracts — all those boring tiny words and numbers — you’re at very high risk of finding out, too late, that what the salesperson told you was materially different from what appears on the contract. That you signed.
I’ve heard from many people over the years who were told by a salesperson that they were buying a 2021 model, for example, but the paperwork revealed it to be a 2020 one. And they have no means of proving they were misled.
There’s also the model mis-selling scenario: a lower-specification model sold as a higher-spec one, with the higher price tag.
This has a material impact on the value of the vehicle. It has cost me much more in interest and VAT and now I am losing out at trade-in
— Lisé Jordaan, misled car owner
In the case of Lisé Jordaan of Somerset West, the misrepresentation wasn’t just verbal — it was declared in the contract as well.
In February 2021 she bought a 2018 Renault Duster 1.6 Dynamique — or so she was led to believe — from a Hyundai dealership in Somerset West.
Having decided to downgrade to a smaller vehicle earlier this year, she obtained a valuation on the Duster from another dealership and was shocked to discover that it was, in fact, not the top-spec Dynamique, but the base level Expression.
“This has a material impact on the value of the vehicle,” she told me in an e-mail. “It has cost me much more in interest and VAT and now I am losing out at trade-in.”
By how much? “WeBuyCars offered me R150,000 for it, and said they would have offered me between R170,000 and R180,000 had it been a Dynamique model,” she said.
On top of that, she’s been paying R200 more every month in insurance than she would have had the car been correctly listed as an Expression. Jordaan knows this because when she alerted her insurer to the “mistake”, her premium dropped by that amount.
What does the higher price tag buy on that 4x2 model? Well, Dynamique models have a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, with Bluetooth and navigation, for starters, which Jordaan paid for but didn’t get.
All the documentation, including that sent to Nedbank’s MFC, which financed the vehicle, states that the Duster is a Dynamique model.
When she presented the dealership with the evidence of the mis-selling, the dealer principal gave her two options, she said — trade in the car with the dealership and buy another one, or accept a payout of R7,000.
MFC was unwilling to get involved, she said, and the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa advised her to engage an attorney. “I could never afford those fees,” Jordaan told me.
Hence her e-mail to me.
I took up the case with Berenice Francis, the Motus automotive group’s corporate affairs executive, as the Hyundai dealership in question falls under that huge umbrella.
Given the circumstances, I asked, is the company prepared to verify the difference in the current price of the two Duster variants with a view to refunding Jordaan the difference?
Responding on Tuesday, Francis said: “The matter was escalated to Hyundai management who have been in contact with Ms Jordaan and sent through an updated compensation offer.
“They have also taken the necessary remedial action with the dealership to understand how the description error occurred and to prevent the recurrence.
“Hyundai Automotive SA would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Jordaan and would like to assure you and our customers that this matter is not normal practice in our operations and are appreciative for the opportunity to correct the unfortunate experience in a fair and responsible manner.”
When I asked Jordaan what that “updated compensation offer” was, she said the dealership hadn’t contacted her.
She did get that offer later, but it was not “sent through” to her — it was a verbal offer, communicated over the phone: R25,000 as “goodwill”.
It’s hardly a no-fault act of goodwill — it’s compensation for a major misrepresentation that materially prejudiced their customer.
Still, Jordaan has accepted the vastly improved offer, and the money will be paid directly into her MFC account.
A few years ago, a question posed to AutoTrader spoke to the same scenario.
“I bought and financed a 2013 Ford Ranger 2.2 XLS SC bakkie about 18 months ago,” the owner wrote. “When I tried to trade it in on a newer vehicle, the dealer informed me that the Ranger is an XL and not an XLS. There is about R30,000 difference in the trade in-value. What do I do now?”
The response: “Your only recourse would be to approach the original dealership with the proof of financing documents, and demand an explanation and refund.
“At the very least, the original dealership will have to reimburse you for these added expenses.
“If they're not keen to help you sort this out, your next step will be a long chat with your lawyer, because this means a fraudulent transaction for which you deserve to be recompensed.”
The AutoTrader team missed out a step, one that costs nothing: if the dealership does not take responsibility for the misrepresentation, seek the help of a journalist.
The lesson: do your homework on a model you’re keen to buy — find out exactly what features the car is supposed to have so that you can’t be made to pay a top spec price for a lesser model.
And here’s another reason it pays to get clued up on car specs: unscrupulous dealers have been known to charge their customers extra for features that come standard with their chosen vehicles.
You’d better believe it.
• Contact Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via
email: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler
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