Chappie from Cheapies Incorporated wants to know how to protect his dealership when selling an old trade-in in the light of the Consumer Protection Act. SuperSpark shares his valuable expertise.
Chappie writes:
Dear SuperSpark
‘How do I protect the dealership when I sell an old vehicle that was traded in, as the Consumer Protection Act provides for a 6-month implied warranty to the customer?’
Please help!
Kind regards,
Chappie
Cheapies Incorporated
Claremont
SuperSpark answers:
Dear Chappie
I recently had discussions with various role-players concerning this. The Consumer Protection Act section 56(1) does indeed provide for an implied warranty of quality for up to six months, taking into account what the goods would generally be used for.
Considering that the opinion is that the use of the “voetstoots” clause would no longer be sufficient to ensure that no further liabilities are on the dealer after the sale of the vehicle, we would have to rely on section 55(6) read with section 49(5).
The consumer has to be expressly informed that the particular goods are offered in a specific condition and the consumer must expressly agree to accept the goods in that condition or knowingly act in a manner consistent with accepting the goods in that condition.
The consumer must be given an adequate opportunity in the circumstances to receive and comprehend the provision or notice. Such notice must contain all that was agreed upon.
This would basically mean that the consumer must be informed and should understand the terms and conditions that would govern the agreement between himself or herself and the dealer. The consumer should also be afforded the time to ensure that they would be satisfied with the terms and conditions and are willing to bind themselves to this.
Although every transaction would be unique, it is important to ensure that every detail of the agreement is recorded in writing.
To further support you, our valued member, the IDA has drafted a new special conditions Offer to Purchase and even though this would not in all instances be fool-proof it is advised that this OTP be used when dealing in older model vehicles or where this OTP would be appropriate to use.
The onus would, however, still be on the dealer to ensure that it is properly completed and all necessary details are contained in the OTP. The special conditions OTP is available on the Document Downloads section for Members on the IDA website.
A word of warning, though: do not deviate from the special conditions as agreed on the special conditions OTP, as this action can imply that the conditions of sale have been amended.
If you, as the dealer, assist the consumer out of goodwill you should record in writing that this is a gesture of goodwill and it does not change the agreement as per the original OTP.
I hope this gives you some guidance on this important matter.
Got to fly now!
Best,
SuperSpark |
