"SOWETAN rocks!! I was refunded the money. May God give you more strength to help other consumers," reads Gift Motswi's text message.
Motswi of Rustenburg, was refunded his R89,000 last Thursday after Consumer Line stepped in.
Last Wednesday, we published an article about Auto Select, a car dealer in Boksburg, Gauteng, who sold Motswi a car on which the odometer had been tampered with.
Motswi said he would not have known that the mileage had been reduced by 82363km had the person who sold the car to Auto Select not left his service book in the car, under the driver's seat.
He said at the time of the sale, the mileage on the odometer showed 150,000km, but the service book showed that the vehicle had clocked 232,363km in January 2010, when BB Motors Corporation in Centurion, Gauteng serviced it.
Motswi said he paid R89,000 for a Nissan Bakkie that "should have cost him R20,000, considering the mileage it had clocked".
He was also given the cleaner's identity documents instead of the dealer's particulars, he says.
When he returned the bakkie to the dealer, they refused to cancel the deal or to refund his money on the basis that they were not to blame for the changed mileage.
But they agreed to take their bakkie back and gave Motswi a refund of his money after Consumer Line stepped in.
Motswi says he will be more careful next time.
Shane Kruger, general manager of Hyundai Automotive South Africa, says buying a used car through a reputable used car dealer supported by a strong brand increases the chances of the purchase process being transparent.
