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Hello
Looking for some legal advice.
I recently purchased a Mercedes diesel van for personal use, from an "in-trade" vehicle auction company for $8500 with 237,000KM on the clock. It had been serviced by an authorised Mercedes service company at 227,000KM with no issues reported. The seller's vehicle condition report suggested the vehicle was in good condition and the next service was advised as due at 260,000.
I drove the van (on normal roads and under normal conditions) for approx 5,500 KMs and then the Turbo failed, rendering the vehicle as unusable and currently disabled at the repair shop. I've had the authorised repairer take a look and they have quoted an estimated repair cost of around $4500.
I contacted the seller who declines to accept responsibility stating it is an "unfortunate" component failure, given the age and KMS on the vehicle and that it's reasonable to expect failure at this many Kms and at this purchase price. They claim they won't be able to help towards the repair costs.
However, I feel it's unreasonable to have had a vehicle for a few months and have travelled a small distance for this serious failure to occur. I've looked at the CGA and considering my options for a tribunal.
What would your opinion by on this and how do you suggest I should proceed ?
TIA
Hi there,
There are two factors here, 1/ the period of time since vehicle purchase, and 2/ vehicle condition.
As the CGA doesn't have a defined time-frame, we would say that most faults that arise after a short period (a few months maybe) of ownership would warrant contact with the dealer and discussing a repair, following the process outlined under the CGA. The shorter the ownership the less acceptable a fault could be. Outside this period, the nature of acceptable faults would be determined by severity of fault and vehicle condition based surmising. There would be the question asked, is it reasonable (when considering vehicle age, mileage, condition and price paid) for this vehicle to experience this fault? The answer to this would determine whether a claim to a dealer needs to be made. Outside a tribunal, no one person can 100% answer if a certain fault can be covered by a dealer or not, as every situation is unique. https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/get-guidance/buying-maintaining-and-renting-a-car/solving-issues-with-your-car-dealer/