Refund ordered for the 'perfect car' – that drove only in reverse

Saturday, 5 May 2018

The Mazda Familia billed as a perfect first car ended up only able to be driven backwards.

The salesman told Amanda Edwards she was buying a 'perfect car'.

But only 10 days after she paid $1300 for the 1994 Mazda Familia, a strange thing happened. The car would drive only in reverse.

When Edwards, from Feilding, asked for a refund from The King of Cars, a yard in Palmerston North, she was refused.

Only now, after the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal ordered the yard to refund her money, can she laugh about the experience. A car that only goes backwards, she said, was about as useful as a bicycle to a fish.

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Edwards bought the car for her son to drive to his first job, and she was told the older model would be 'perfect' and that it had a warranty. She insisted it have a Warrant of Fitness when supplied and four days later handed the keys over to her son Jayden.

'My son was so eager to get the car,' she said. At first, it ran just fine.

'Then he got in it to go to work one morning, and started it fine and put it into drive, and it just revved like it was in neutral. He put it into first and second, and it wouldn't drive, except in reverse. It was a dud car.'

She tried to contact the yard, and after several calls, was eventually told it would not be refunded without a written warranty.

However, after seeking advice from the consumer protection helpline about how to complain, the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal found in her favour in a decision released on Friday, and she was awarded a full refund plus a $50 tribunal application fee.

'Even the [adjudicator] said: 'What are you supposed to do, drive it in reverse to Palmy?',' Edwards said.

The King of Cars director Tom Rolton did not attend the hearing, but in a written submission told the tribunal Edwards should not get a refund as 'she should not expect anything more from such an old, low-cost, high-mileage end-of-life car,' the decision report said.

'A $1300 vehicle is half a step from a scrap-project, parts vehicle.'

Although Rolton was correct the level of consumer protection Edwards should expect was relative to the age and high mileage of the car, he was wrong in thinking she had no consumer rights, the decision said.

'A reasonable purchaser would expect that even an old car will meet basic standards of durability, if purchased from a motor vehicle trader.

'Even a $1300 vehicle such as Ms Edwards' Mazda should be good for at least one month of motoring without requiring major repairs.'

The King of Cars was ordered to pay the costs within a week of the decision. Edwards said after some back and forth emails with Rolton, and the Tribunal threatening to go to mediation, she was eventually paid the refund.

In 2014, the tribunal also ordered The King of Cars to refund a woman who found her car had a faulty transmission immediately after buying it from the yard.

Its Tremaine Ave yard closed late last year, but a dealer called Tom using the same cell phone number as King of Cars now runs the Carfox yard on Rangitikei St in Palmerston North.