What Is A 'new' Car?

[taranaki]

Cars sold as 'new' manufactured 2 years earlier

Daewoo fined $35,000
In a significant case for the motor vehicle industry, Daewoo Automotive Australia Pty Limited, trading as Daewoo Automotive New Zealand, today pleaded guilty to breaching the Fair Trading Act for selling vehicles as new when they were manufactured two years earlier. Judge Clapham fined the company $35,000 plus costs in the Manukau District Court.

A Commerce Commission investigation revealed that 52 “new” Daewoo Nubira vehicles sold through the company’s nationwide roadshows in 1999 were in fact manufactured in 1997, and had been sitting in storage in Korea.

The Commission alleged that Daewoo deliberately failed to disclose to prospective purchasers the year of manufacture of the vehicles and misled a number of customers who believed they were buying a new vehicle.

Commission Chair John Belgrave said that the issues raised in this case had key implications for the motor vehicle industry.

“Currently a motor vehicle dealer is not legally required to disclose ‘year of manufacture’ details, however, in this case, the claims made by Daewoo were incorrect and misleading. The vehicles cannot possibly have been said to be new”, he said.

In sentencing, Judge Clapham said that there was legislative interest in defining ‘new’ for the purpose of motor vehicles and that a requirement to disclose the manufacture date of vehicles would do away with any confusion.

“The defendant’s conduct interferes with market forces. It deprives consumers of the relevant date of manufacture and also impacts on those traders who disclose all details”, Judge Clapham said.


......So....how long after a car is manufactured does it become a 'not new' car,if it has not been registered or used?What do you think guys?

And before anyone says Daewoo's are crap,and that people deserve what they get,the same could just as easily be happening to prestige cars.

[Polygon]

This comes as no surprise to me coming from a company that started out making horrible consumer electronics. I would never buy a car from Daewoo, and now this, not very trustworthy.

[YogsVR4]

Funny how they only get fined the price of two of their cars (at least if that were US dollars). OH - THEY'LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN

[Moppie]

Didnt they lose a lawsuit in the US for mis representing the HP of one of thier cars?


As far as Im concerned a car is new if it has never been sold before, and has zero Ks on it (or less than 10).
However its year of manufactor if not the same as its year of sale should be disclosed to the buyer, and will clearly affect its value.
One of the reasons ppl buy a new car is to get the latest in technology and design (not aplicable to a daewoo of course) and a car that is even 2 years old is not going to have it. It will be in terms of safety and performance etc 2 years out of date.

The guy I work for is looking at buying some cars impounded on thier way into the US by customs.
He will get them cheap, and convert them to RHD then sell them localy as used cars.
However they will all be 2002 models, and all will have zero Ks on them.
So they will be 2nd hand new cars with delivery Ks only.

[taranaki]

Originally posted by YogsVR4
Funny how they only get fined the price of two of their cars (at least if that were US dollars). OH - THEY'LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN

It's in NZ dollars....One halfway decent family saloon would cover it.But on the brighter side,they won't do it again.They couldn't make the franchise fly,and sold up and moved out of NZ.

[curious]

What's with the cheese grater on the back side windows of one of the models anyway????

Just in case you have a cheese emergency???

[taranaki]

As AF's industry specialist in the cheesemaking industry,I should tell you that there is no such thing as a 'cheese emergency'

The short black curly hair that you found in your Gruyere is an ' incidence of nonconforming product reaching the consumer'

we don't have emergencies.Scares the clients.:bandit:

[curious]

eeuwww

thats gross:apuke:

[Toksin]

Apparently, (I saw this on a doco somewhere)...a car is classed as "used" when it's got more than 2 km on the odometer...maybe thats just showroom cars though...

Dave

[taranaki]

Originally posted by Toksin
Apparently, (I saw this on a doco somewhere)...a car is classed as "used" when it's got more than 2 km on the odometer...maybe thats just showroom cars though...

Dave

but surely,the odometer doesn't get hooked up until the car is in the dealership?Most new cars would cover that distance just being moved around the factory holding areas.

[Jimster]

$35,000 NZ would be about the price of one of thier Tacumas or Leganzas


As for Daewoo though.....I struggle to see the big deal.......I know of plenty of places that do that- Daewoos are reliable cars and there are no Km's on them I guess that the consumer is entitled to know then and where thier automobile was built- but I wouldn't care if I bought a 1998 156 with 0 kays passed off as a 2000- just as long as there is no mileage on it. HOWEVER WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST SELL THESE VIECHLES OFF AT A LOWER PRICE??? As far as I know- Kia in New Zealand do a similar thing- It would have saved them a LOT of hassle- also the Nubira was facelifted in 1999 (As far as I know- and care- may have been 2000) so how could they honestly pass a 1997 one off as a 1999???? Well- they don't deal the way they did when they sold those cars AND they are now owned by GM (Holden) So I doubt the mistake will repeat.