The National Consumer Commission has welcomed rulings against Wingfield Motors and Sandton Repo Cars (now Cresta Car Centre). Both have been forced to refund consumers and pay administrative fines for legal violations.

Two car dealerships have been fined and ordered to refund consumers over sales that were in contravention of the Consumer Protection Act.

The National Consumer Tribunal has ruled against Wingfield Motors and Sandton Repo Cars (now trading as Cresta Car Centre) after the National Consumer Commission had referred complaints to it for adjudication.

In both matters, consumers first complained to the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa, who attempted to mediate - but when that failed, the ombud advised the consumers to lodge complaints with the Consumer Commission. The commission investigated and then referred the matters to the tribunal for declaratory orders that the respondents had contravened various sections of the Act.

The Consumer Commission told Daily Maverick that Wingfield Motors (which is also trading as Best Price for My Car in the Western Cape), was found to have contravened sections 55(2)(a) to (c), which address consumer's rights to goods that are safe and of good quality, and 56(2) - implied warranty of quality - of the Act.

Wingfield Motors

In the Wingfield Motors matter, the customer disputed the sale after buying a second-hand 2017 Ford Focus RS 2.3 EcoBoost AWD with 41,214km on the clock for R568,000. The customer...