WeeklySA_AdminEPIC REVERSE: Pensioner who bought what turned out to be a wreck from Cape Town’s WeBuyCars, gets an early Christmas present via a R220 000 refund after a long hassle…
By Sy Makaringe
IN a classic case of a David-and-Goliath battle, a Limpopo woman has felled South Africa’s leading used car dealership after a four-month tussle over R220 000 she paid for a vehicle that later turned out to be a skorokoro (wreck).
Tinyiko Florence Mahlaule, a recently retired government official from Section E in Giyani, bought a second-hand 2022 Toyota Rumion online from WeBuyCars’ Cape Town branch in August with the intention of using it for e-hailing purposes in Gauteng to augment her income. “I viewed the car on the dealership’s online platforms. It looked to be in tip top condition and perfect for the purposes I wanted to buy it for,” said Mahlaule.
But when her son-in-law, Eric Sambo, took delivery of the vehicle at the dealership’s Silver Lakes branch in Pretoria on her behalf, he was horrified at the poor physical and structural state it was in.
To satisfy himself, Sambo took it to two leading local panelbeaters for an independent assessment. Both confirmed the car was in a grossly defective state.
Tel Auto Body summed it all up in a one-line report that said: “Roof and all doors are damaged. Cannot be fixed (The car is a write-off).”
Xtreme To Boot Panelbeaters provided a detailed analysis of the state of the car, noting, among other things, that:
• The vehicle appeared to have had been involved in an accident;
• The roof panel and roof structure, including the dome frames, were damaged and not aligned with factory specifications;
• There was evidence of excessive use of body filler, proof of “poor previous repairs”;
• There was visible damage inside the door frames;
• Doors were bent or misaligned and didn’t fit correctly to the body; and
• Evidence of an overspray on many parts of the body.
In his conclusion, Andre Loock, Director of Xtreme To Boot Panelbeaters, concurred with Tel Auto Body’s expert assessment.
“Based on the inspection, it is evident that this vehicle was involved in a severe accident and may have been considered a write-off,” Loock said.
After receiving the two damning independent reports, Mahlaule returned the vehicle to WeBuyCars and requested it to either refund her or replace the car with a suitable one. But the dealership flatly refused, claiming the customer had purchased the car voetstoets (knowing its faults and all).
The dealership claimed Mahlaule had signed a sales agreement and registration documents that, it claimed, “clearly recorded that she had inspected the vehicle, was aware of the condition and accepted responsibility for any repairs”. Mahlaule retorted: “That’s totally insane. It’s a big, fat lie. How could someone sitting in Giyani or even Pretoria physically inspect a car parked in some used car dealership in Cape Town, between 1 900km and 1 500km away? What they say is a total fabrication.”
It was at this point that Mahlaule was advised to approach the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa (MIOSA) to seek assistance for redress.
But instead of directing WeBuyCars to refund her as there was no doubt that Mahlaule had been sold a dud, MIOSA made her to submit and resubmit numerous claims documents. At some she was warned that incorrectly filling out the complaints forms might end up with her claim being declined.
“I was practically begging for my money. That’s how MIOSA officials made me feel. I was beginning to lose it and I thought I was not going to see my money again,”
It was in this state of hopelessness that she approached Weekly SA Mirror for help.
The newspaper battled for over two weeks to find answers from both WeBuyCars and MIOSA, with senior managers blatantly ignoring our emails. Reaching them by telephone was equally difficult, with call centre agents playing a gate-keeping role than facilitating communication between the two organisations on one hand and us on the other.
WeBuyCars would sometimes respond to an email inquiry about with a blunt “[t]he ticket has been closed” comment, without providing further details. Out of desperation and as a measure of last resort, the newspaper wrote to Dr Mathews Phosa, the Chairperson of the MIOSA Board of Directors, to intervene.
A few days later – on Tuesday December 9 – MIOSA finally responded to Mahlaule’s complaint.
In its report ruling in her favour, MIOSA said it concurred with the assessment reports of both Tel Auto Body and Xtreme To Boot Panelbeaters.
“The severity and nature of the damage identified in these assessments reports demonstrate that the vehicle did not meet the standard of quality as required under Section 55 of the CPA (Consumer Protection Act). MIOSA’s Technical Department has thoroughly reviewed the case and the independent assessment reports, and concurs that the vehicle did not meet the necessary standards of the CPA,” said MIOSA’s Senior Case Manager, Marielle Ferris, and Head of Case Managing Department, DB Smith.
Ferris and Smith chastised WeBuyCars for not drawing the customer’s to the full extent of the damage attention “in a clear and conspicuous manner”, in violation of Section 49 of the CPA. They also criticised the company for admitting to selling the car to Mahlaule without an express warranty.
“ … [T]his office must emphasise that such a waiver constitutes a contravention of Section 51(1) of the CPA. This provision expressly prohibits any transaction, agreement, term or condition that has the general purpose or effect of defeating the purposes of the Act or that directly or indirectly waives or deprives a consumer of their statutory rights.”
It was on this basis that MIOSA directed WeBuyCars to cancel the sales transaction within 15 business days of the receipt of the communication.
WeBuyCars, which was established in 2001, prides itself as a “rapidly expanding” online used vehicle dealership with a network of more than 100 branches across South Africa.
One of its biggest showrooms is The Dome in Johannesburg, which can house more than 1 000 used cars at a time.
