Our Members often find themselves in disputes regarding maintenance plans and odometer readings. We look at how dealers can prevent such disputes.

Maintenance plan no longer valid

A dealer sells a vehicle that has a full-service history and the maintenance plan is, according to his knowledge, still in place.

 When the customer books the vehicle for a service, it transpires that the vehicle is no longer covered by the maintenance plan as a result of a previous accident.

The customer is now demanding cancellation of the deal. What are the dealer’s rights and options in this case?

The dealer's position

A dealer should always confirm that a vehicle’s maintenance plan is still valid with the manufacturer. This should preferably be done before the vehicle is bought into stock and should be obtained in writing - in order to provide the dealer with some evidence.

If we take Contract Law into consideration, the fact that the vehicle was still covered by a maintenance plan was part of the agreement between the customer and the dealer. This means that the dealer could not, and did not, deliver fully and the customer has a strong case to demand cancellation of the agreement – or to claim damages from the dealer.

The facts could also indicate to a lesser degree that dealer acted in contravention of the Consumer Protection Act, in particular Reg. 41. In this instance, however, the dealer did not have any intent to mislead the customer, as they were under the impression that the maintenance plan was valid.

Our advice

Our advice would be that the dealer should provide the customer with a maintenance plan that offers the same benefits as the manufacturer’s maintenance plan, or alternatively accept the cancellation of the agreement.

Dealer sells a vehicle with an incorrect odometer reading

It is a requisite from MIOSA that the dealership should check with the manufacturer if any service record is available to confirm the odometer reading.

This should preferably be done before the vehicle is bought into stock and should be obtained in writing, in order to provide the dealer with some evidence.