29-04-2025
Court orders car seller to refund dealership for misrepresentation of vehicle model
The Makhanda High Court ruled in favour of a car dealership who was shortchanged after the seller of a 2005 model vehicle sold it as a 2013 model
Image: File picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency (ANA)
A signed warranty is a contractual statement to which a person is bound, a judge found after the seller of a car sold the vehicle as being a 2013 model to a car dealership, while it later emerged that the vehicle is, in fact, a 2005 model
The result was that the dealership paid the seller R60 000 more than what the vehicle was worth. When this was later discovered, the seller refused to pay the money back that he was overpaid with.
The Magistrate's Court in East London ruled against Eastern Cape Motors when it turned to court. The magistrate reasoned that the dealership should have established the model of the vehicle before entering into the sale agreement.
On appeal, the Eastern Cape High Court sitting in Makhanda said the magistrate was wrong and ordered that the seller, retired police officer Cornelius Wolmerans, must reimburse the R60 000 to the dealership.
The dispute centred around a written agreement in which Wolmerans traded his Mitsubishi Pajero, said to be a 2013 model, valued at R140 000, towards the purchase of a Toyota Aygo. The dealership later discovered it was a 2005 model only valued at R80 000.
Before this discovery was made, Wolmerans signed a written agreement in terms of which he bought the pre-owned Toyota at a price of R200 739.95 for a simultaneous trade-in of his Mitsubishi Pajero.
