Merc comes with a costly history lesson

Who would spend R180,000 in legal fees over a car bought for R110,000?

Pretoria businessman Roy Mothee would.

And that's not all he's spent on the E-Class Mercedes-Benz he bought from the InspectaCar franchise in Centurion three years ago.

Two months after he bought it, the car broke down in Pietermaritzburg and was towed to a Mercedes dealership, where it was found that the drive-belt pulley had broken. It was the first of many discoveries - damaged shock absorbers, a missing catalytic converter, a leaking gearbox and faulty power steering - that have cost Mothee about R100,000 in repair and car-hire bills.

He's determined that InspectaCar Centurion, owned by Bakkies Brown, is going to take responsibility, which is why his case ended up in the Pretoria Regional Court this week.

Mothee, who bought the car for use in his travel business, claimed he was told by the salesman, who has since died, that the car had been bought from its previous owner, when in fact the dealership bought it at a Barloworld auction for R61,700.

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"A previous owner has since told me the car was in two very serious accidents," Mothee said. "I suspect it was written off. Who in their right mind would go to a respected second-hand car dealership to buy a car they'd bought on auction?"

Mothee said he had evidence that InspectaCar Centurion knew of the car's major defects and failed to inform him. He also sai d an inspection carried out by a Mercedes-Benz dealership after he bought the car had highlighted identical defects.

The dealership claimed to have had the car repaired and brought to roadworthy condition before selling it to him, but Mothee said the invoice for those repairs did not relate to his car, but to a diesel E-Class with different engine and registration details.

"It looks like a major cover-up to me," he said.

Brown's attorney, Walter Niedinger, said the dealership did not know the car was accident-damaged when it sold it to Mothee.

Also, the breakdown of the car in Pietermaritzburg two months later "cannot summarily be put at our client's doorstep".

In terms of the Consumer Protection Act, if a product - including a car - malfunctions within six months of purchase, the seller is required to repair the fault, provided it was not caused by the consumer.

InspectaCar Centurion claimed the breakdown was "as a result of Mr Mothee's failure to service the motor vehicle properly". Mothee refuted this.

Niedinger said the motor industry ombudsman had found in the dealership's favour on the matter.

But Mothee said the form on which that decision was based, stating all was well with the car, was signed by him on the day he bought the car, when he was not aware of any problems.

The matter was postponed to May 23.