Consumer Protection Act profit making scheme

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ciruis

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Sorry for the hard title but after what i found today i think the topic's titile is quite fitting.

I tried to find out today what the "book" value of my vehicle is. Did you know you can not attain this information from any vehicle dealership as it is against the newly formed "CPA" (Consumer Protection Act) ? If you wish to retrieve this information now, you must phone transunion and pay them R30.00 in order to get this "estimated" value.

Now my quetion is this, who has given Transunion the authority to do this ? I can understand that having control over such information may lead to a more fair deal for the end consumer BUT i don't understand why we (the public) have to pay for this service ?

After learning about this, i wonder how many other such "cases" may arise due to the CPA.

Trust South Africa to take a good idea and ring it by the neck to make more profits out of an already over taxated nation :mad: /rant

PS: Apologies if this has been mentioned in another thread. I did do a search but found nothing pertaining to this.
 
arent there a few places online were you can get your vehicles trade\retail value for free ?

pm me if you dont come right
 
ryu said:
arent there a few places online were you can get your vehicles trade\retail value for free ?

pm me if you dont come right
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"Ryu" you bring up a very valid point.

According to the lady i spoke to at Audi Centre Sandton, NO ONE is legally allowed to hand out a book value with the exception of Transunion.

Is there anyone here with legal experience, that can clear this up ?
 
ciruis said:
Sorry for the hard title but after what i found today i think the topic's titile is quite fitting.

I tried to find out today what the "book" value of my vehicle is. Did you know you can not attain this information from any vehicle dealership as it is against the newly formed "CPA" (Consumer Protection Act) ? If you wish to retrieve this information now, you must phone transunion and pay them R30.00 in order to get this "estimated" value.

Now my quetion is this, who has given Transunion the authority to do this ? I can understand that having control over such information may lead to a more fair deal for the end consumer BUT i don't understand why we (the public) have to pay for this service ?

After learning about this, i wonder how many other such "cases" may arise due to the CPA.

Trust South Africa to take a good idea and ring it by the neck to make more profits out of an already over taxated nation :mad: /rant

PS: Apologies if this has been mentioned in another thread. I did do a search but found nothing pertaining to this.
Click to expand...

Transunion have been doing this for ages, so its not new.
I have paid the 30 odd rand for the valuation and often used it to barter on a trade in. No biggie for me.

To me it sounds like the dealer (who get the valuations much cheaper) is too cheap to get the valuation for you.

Besides, the Transunion value is indicative anyway. They valued my 2004 Getz at R65000 (trade in value) in 2008 when I traded it in. No matter how hard I tried and where I went I couldn't get more than R55000 for it.
 
My car was written off in January after a f-ing tree fell on me while going at 100 km/h (yes really)!

I happened to know a 2nd hand car dealer and he gave me "the book" details for my car (a 1996 Land Cruiser):

Retail = R115,000
Trade = R85,000

So that's R30,000 / R85,000 = a whopping 35% markup.

In reverse it's R30,000 / R115,000 = a still whopping 26% off list price.

I'm pretty sure that's typical.

PS: Insurance gave me R100,000 - R5,000 excess = R95,000.
 
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Makes me sick as well. Also the fact that you have to pay to get your OWN credit rating :rolleyes:
 
ciruis said:
Sorry for the hard title but after what i found today i think the topic's titile is quite fitting.

I tried to find out today what the "book" value of my vehicle is. Did you know you can not attain this information from any vehicle dealership as it is against the newly formed "CPA" (Consumer Protection Act) ? If you wish to retrieve this information now, you must phone transunion and pay them R30.00 in order to get this "estimated" value.

Now my quetion is this, who has given Transunion the authority to do this ? I can understand that having control over such information may lead to a more fair deal for the end consumer BUT i don't understand why we (the public) have to pay for this service ?

After learning about this, i wonder how many other such "cases" may arise due to the CPA.

Trust South Africa to take a good idea and ring it by the neck to make more profits out of an already over taxated nation :mad: /rant

PS: Apologies if this has been mentioned in another thread. I did do a search but found nothing pertaining to this.
Click to expand...

They're talking ****. "It's the law" is a typical retort, and it's bull**** at least 50% of the time. The easiest way to get them to admit this, is to ask them for a section number and clause. They won't be able to give you one.

As for transunion, their little racquet on used car prices has been going on for a long time. IIRC, they publish the M&M books, and have strict non disclosure clauses with their customers. It's all in an effort to hinder the car selling/buying consumer - the less information he has, the less power he has to negotiate price. They are the scum of the earth, and the less you have to do with them, the better. Unfortunately they a monopoly in certain areas, for instance, they govern whether a large corporation will accept your cheques or not, and this used car pricing thing.

It's time for the government to grow a pair, and protect the public from the likes of transunion.
 
Well here's an addition to the story.

I think (strictly my personal opinion) Transunion has some agreement with the Gauteng vehicle dealerships. I phoned Audi Durban and one of the "cuzzie's" there gave me my value no problem and he was totaly oblivious to this Transunion legality non-sense.

Once again, i feel the Gauteng public will be taken for another ride.......pathetic.....
 
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i prefer the mccarthy way...where they "auction" yo car 2 the highest bidder..& the highest bidder price is the one they use as yo retail/market value...lets hope they dont stop this practise soon cause i want new wheels :)
 
Chief Whip said:
i prefer the mccarthy way...where they "auction" yo car 2 the highest bidder..& the highest bidder price is the one they use as yo retail/market value...lets hope they dont stop this practise soon cause i want new wheels :)
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mccarthy :sick:

What a bunch of spineless jellyfish.

They where the ones who "guaranteed" the buy back on the Chery. Then when it all went bad, they dumped the brand and sold it Imperial, closed 8 out of 11 service centres in Gauteng and didn't want to know anything about Chery any more.

"Backed by McCarthy" just means they're waiting behind you until you're off your guard and then they roger you. In fact "Backed by McCarthy" should be what is used to describe the state you're in after you're dealt with them.

Why is that guy limping and rubbing his arse?
Oh, he was "Backed by McCarthy"
 
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