Was I duped?

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gopes

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Hi
In April last year I bought a vehicle from a reputable dealer in Jhb. It was sold to me as a 2013 model with 3800 km on the clock. It was the dealers demo model. As I am based in PE the vehicle was delivered to me by car carriers and I have enjoyed the car ever since.
As it had reached 20 000kms the vehicle was serviced the the local dealership today. I asked the service advisor to double check on the extended maintenance plan that I purchased with the vehicle and he gave me a copy of the multi vin summary report.

On the report I discovered the following:
That the vehicle is described as a 2012 model with an in service date of 23 November 2012.
My extended 5 year maintenance plan thus expires on 23 November 2017.

The car was sold to me on 29 April 2013 - odometer reading 3800km however there is also an entry on 28 March 2013 where the car had a radio-check and software upgrade under warranty with an odometer reading of 9943 km.

The invoice I have from the dealers describes it as a date of first reg.:-2013 with 3400 km.

Is this normal practice- selling a late 2012 car as 2013?
Was the mileage tampered with, or could there possibly be another explanation?
Is there anything I could do now, seeing that a year has passed - I was only considering 2013 models and don't think I would have bought a 2012 model- will this will also affect future resale value as the car will be seen as a year older?

Thanks in advance
Regards
 
Take your findings to the Motor Industry Ombudsman, if they said its a 2013 model and its not, fraud. Is this vehicle financed? If so, check your statement, it will have the details of the vehicle, see what is the model of the vehicle.

Date of first reg, and date of manufacture can be different years, e.g manufacture date 20/11/2013, date of first reg 01/05/2014 but in this case, vehicle's mileage seems to have been tampered with.
 
the vehicle is financed- I'm yet to see a statement though.
the build date is 1 june 2012
in service date is 23 november 2012

the date of first liability on the registration certificate is 03-01-2013

the motor plan started in nov. 2012

it was sold to me as a 2013

the year is not stated on the licence disc.

now I'm really confused...
 
Take the evidence to the motor industry, you've been duped also let your finance house know as the dealer has committed fraud.
 
gopes said:
the vehicle is financed- I'm yet to see a statement though.
the build date is 1 june 2012
in service date is 23 november 2012

the date of first liability on the registration certificate is 03-01-2013

the motor plan started in nov. 2012

it was sold to me as a 2013

the year is not stated on the licence disc.

now I'm really confused...
Click to expand...

The vehicle being sold to you as a 2013 model is correct, if the date of first reg is correct.

But the problem is the mileage of the vehicle which appears to have been tampered with, well atleast according to the dealer.

What vehicle is this if I may ask?
 
essop1@gp said:
The vehicle being sold to you as a 2013 model is correct, if the date of first reg is correct.

But the problem is the mileage of the vehicle which appears to have been tampered with, well atleast according to the dealer.

What vehicle is this if I may ask?
Click to expand...

Chrysler Grand Voyager
The only place the date of first registration is listed is on their invoice as3-01-2013
But the Motorplan started in nov. 2012
The description on the vin summary also describes it as a 2012 model

I'd love to name the dealer- just wanna get my facts straight first.
 
Tell the dealer you want the deal reversed at the bank. Make a big stink.
Also approach the bank where the car is financed and give them the facts.
The dealer will probably take the car back without much fuss.
 
The Chrysler does have a problem where the odometer reverses it self.have seen this problem before.Get to the bottom of the date story first.
 
On a new vehicle, the Motorplan will be in a suspended status until the vehicle is registered/sold, but it being a demo vehicle, they could have let it run anyway but you lose approx. 2 months, that could equate to a gearbox or engine change, so that was not cool of them but correcting that is basically changing a date on their systems.

Selling a vehicle with the incorrect mileage is NOT cool by any standards, and the proof is with their dealer network, so this is a huge issue.

date of first liability and date of first reg, is the same thing as far as I know

VIN numbers are generated at manufacture stage, so like I said earlier they can be different years
 
gopes said:
Where does one see the date of first registration?
Click to expand...

I could be talking out of my arse right now but I think you will see it on that piece of paper you cut the licensing disc out of. Alternatively give the licensing department a call.
 
gopes said:
Chrysler Grand Voyager
The only place the date of first registration is listed is on their invoice as3-01-2013
But the Motorplan started in nov. 2012
The description on the vin summary also describes it as a 2012 model

I'd love to name the dealer- just wanna get my facts straight first.
Click to expand...

The date of first registration = the model year. It's common practice where people who purchase vehicles late November or early December will hold off registration until the new year. During this time the vehicle usually is driven with garage plates (those temporary paper plates). Since the vehicle was a demo it is certainly possible that the the vehicle was not registered until the next year. This is normal/standard industry practice.

Where you need to query is the mileage of the service item and the mismatching KM's. Don't freak out before you check with the dealer as mistakes do happen (typos etc - ie. 9000 instead of 900)
 
i wasn't told that the car was put into service in 2012- only that it was a 2013 model.
if the date of first registration=model year, why does the vin summary describe it as a 2012 model
i get that the mileage could be an error but it does seem strange!!!
 
gopes said:
i wasn't told that the car was put into service in 2012- only that it was a 2013 model.
if the date of first registration=model year, why does the vin summary describe it as a 2012 model
i get that the mileage could be an error but it does seem strange!!!
Click to expand...

Lets say for example, Toyota builds a lot of cars, they are stored at a facility, they get pulled from stock as dealers order them, and register when they get sold. So if they were built in the previous year and only sold and registered the following year, model = date of registration, VIN number = year of manufacture.

I bought a brand new polo at the end of December 2012, car was pulled from stock, left at the dealer, dealer registered in January, my polo is classified as a 2013 model, vehicle papers, bank all have that year model, but the car was already built in 2012.
 
Hi
I get that the car was built in 2012- what I want to know- is it acceptable for the dealership to start using the car in 2012, activate the warranty in 2012 but only register the car in 2013 and sell it to a customer as a 2013 model.
 
gopes said:
Hi
I get that the car was built in 2012- what I want to know- is it acceptable for the dealership to start using the car in 2012, activate the warranty in 2012 but only register the car in 2013 and sell it to a customer as a 2013 model.
Click to expand...

Absolutely not, I am sure that is illegal.
One of my friends bought a brand new tazz a few years back, he drove into somebody, sent it for repairs to a Toyota approved repair centre. When he went to collect the car, they told him that they did a better job than the previous repairers did, they obviously found something that was off that didn't quite relate to the damage and fixed it. Now he found this very odd, since he bought it brand new and this was his first incident.
 
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