Action Motors Cannington - Statutory Warranties - (not fishing related)

Hi Guys,

My missus and I recently bought an 05 prado, anyway, its still within its statutory warranty period (by a week) and the air conditioner compressor has gone in it (bout 1k Exxy prices to fix).  My mechanic has rung the dealer and they have rejected it saying that its not covered, thought I would just check if anyone knows who I should contact to see if they are just trying to get out of it by a bit of fast talk.  Can anyone provide any links to the govt website, or a number to call or does anyone know the legislation enough to know whether its covered or not?

Any help appreciated,

Adam

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The_Wanderer's picture

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Contact the MTA adam they

Wed, 2011-03-16 11:35

Contact the MTA adam they love dealling with Dodgy deallers. Also try consumer protection and dept of fair trading.  http://www.mtawa.com.au/Contact_Us

Brucesta's picture

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i would have thought it would

Wed, 2011-03-16 11:35

i would have thought it would have been covered. mate just had his centre diff in his prado drop it's guts and the dealership is happy to help there. minister of fair trading or the ombudsum for fair trading could tell you pretty quickly. all i can say is get on to it ASAP or get email conversation with dates on the correspondance for proof fo trying to sort the issue

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Brucesta's picture

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http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au

Wed, 2011-03-16 11:40

http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/ConsumerProtection/Content/Motor_Vehicles/Buying_and_selling/Buying_a_vehicle/Used_vehicle_%28statutory%29_warra.html

looks like they have to fix it according to this

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Adam Gallash's picture

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Doh

Wed, 2011-03-16 11:59

Not covered as its not critical to the car in terms of making it unroad worthy.  Fuggin not impressed, tried ringing the dealer to see if they would come to the party in any sort of way and pretty much told its not going to happen.

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Ben Derecki's picture

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call anyway

Wed, 2011-03-16 12:54

Adam I'd give Consumer Protection / Commerce a call anyway.  Warranty protection for consumers has recently been given a boost under the Commonwealth's new Australian Consumer Law which has quite specific provisions regarding warranties.  I don't know how it relates to motor vehicle dealers and second hand cars but it might be that the info on the page Brucesta provided is out of date (noticing on the bottom of the page it was last updated in 2008).

carnarvonite's picture

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Licencing authority

Wed, 2011-03-16 12:09

Check with the local vehicle licencing centre, if something is fitted to a vehicle it must work or it cannot be licenced, therefore essential. Not 100% sure, but remember it from somewhere

Seaquest's picture

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Got ripped off by these

Wed, 2011-03-16 12:11

Got ripped off by these pricks a few years ago. Not going into details but I learnt a lot about buying a car and what to look out for in a contract.

hlokk's picture

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Unforunately not the best way

Wed, 2011-03-16 12:32

Unforunately not the best way to learn it Brendan, but better than not learning it at all i guess. Hopefully neglect for their customers service will see them headed the same way as your compressor Adam.

 

With the non-critical parts, how was the warranty worded. I think some cars have a 3 year warranty + 10 on powertrain, so something like an aircon compressor would be covered in the first but not in the second. However, if it said 5 year warranty and no indication that certain parts werent covered after a certain time then thats a little different.

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The terms of the statutory

Wed, 2011-03-16 13:13

The terms of the statutory warranty are (as name suggests) governed by statute/legislation, so there wont be any terms or contract to check the wording of.

The link that Brucesta provided has a summary, says that it excludes "accessories", which would cover air conditioners.

So unfortunately might be out of luck!

Pretty surprising for it to give up the ghost so soon though. 5 years is not a long time for Toyota Tough!

Dan

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I read that, but I took

Wed, 2011-03-16 13:41

I read that, but I took 'accessories' to mean additional things to a standard car. E.g. anything 'aftermarket' including when added at the dealers. I would not think that the airconditioning system would be considered an accessory as it is not able to be 'added' to the car and is an integrated part of the standard car. Its not something like a dealer fitted reversing camera, bull bar, mud flaps, carpets, etc. There will definitely be a definition of accessory somewhere, and if it could conceivably cover the air con compressor, then you would have a case to argue that it should be covered.

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It's only the last few years

Wed, 2011-03-16 13:54

It's only the last few years that air cons have been factory fitted in landcruisers. They were always dealer fitted.

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hlokk's picture

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In a Prado though? Surely

Wed, 2011-03-16 14:02

In a Prado though? Surely they had aircons from day 1. To me, an accessory is something you can add on, and if the aircon is part of the car as it came from the factory, its not an accessory. In the case of dealer fitted aircon, then it would be covered under a separate warranty I would think (which almost certainly wont extend 5 years).

dkonig82's picture

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Nah unfortunately it doesn't

Wed, 2011-03-16 17:10

Nah unfortunately it doesn't matter if it came fitted factory or not.

Basically the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act says they dont have to fix a 'prescribed accessory'. If you go to the regulations there is a list of these. One of which is 'Refridgerated airconditioning units'.

Also doesnt cover stereos.

Bit of a pain but that is what the law says unfortunately.

 

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When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:

n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or

n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you. 

hlokk's picture

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Utterly ridiculous that a

Wed, 2011-03-16 18:14

Utterly ridiculous that a piece of standard equipment for practically all cars is counted as an 'accessory'. If its a manufacturers power train warranty, then fair enough, but it sounds like the dealers warranty is exactly that without making it clear that that's pretty much all it is. The stereos bit isnt as surprising.

Makes you wonder if it was from when air conditioning was not standard equipment to all cars. I wonder what would happen if seat belts werent covered and one failed during a crash during warranty...

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Action Motors? Well they are

Wed, 2011-03-16 13:36

Action Motors? Well they are consistant I suppose. I got ripped there around 10 years ago.
Been to court a few times since then for trying to rip others off as well. Pop up in the papers a bit.

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Tony Halliday's picture

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Adam,you want the number of

Wed, 2011-03-16 14:05

Adam,

you want the number of my Bounty Hunter???? lol..

 

 

(only joking, ducks for cover before being banned...lol..   )

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Used car warranties or extra

Wed, 2011-03-16 17:08

Used car warranties or extra warranties arn't worth the paper they are written on! Anything that is likely to fail is not covered and when major failures do occur they have ways of avoiding it. Have had a bit to do with Major Motors sold cars as I used to work on light vehicles DO NOT BUY OFF THEM! Ningaloo Auto Repaires go see Travis great mechanic.

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That really sucks.  I was

Wed, 2011-03-16 17:35

That really sucks.  I was paranoid about buying my Patrol from a car dealer but fingers crossed, luckilly 18 months on, haven't had a problem.  Maybe because it's a Nissan.  It's no wonder used car salesmen have such a bad rep? At least a few people on this site will see how that particular car dealer looks (or should I say doesn't look) after their customers.

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Adam, a few big placards,

Wed, 2011-03-16 18:26

Adam, a few big placards,  and a few mates parading them out the front on a Saturday morning " dodgy dealers-buyers beware" etc should get the right responce fairly quickly. As long as you don`t defame anybody you should be fine, telling the truth won`t get you into strife.

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I recently bought a prado

Wed, 2011-03-16 18:46

I recently bought a prado from grand toyota.Been a ripper of a vehicle.I looked at action mtrs for a car but was suss on the fact that just about every one of there vehicles have log books and are low kms.I paid for a extended warrenty that covers everthing except for drive train.How often do toyotas drive train fail.Hardly ever but it always seems to be the small things that fail that shit ya.Its quite obvious that action mtrs dont give a shit about good will.

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mate just did a centre diff

Wed, 2011-03-16 21:17

mate just did a centre diff on his 08 prado last week, only had it 3 weeks too but the dealer is covering it under the stat warranty

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Simo_'s picture

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You should have told them you

Wed, 2011-03-16 19:25

You should have told them you run a forum and if they don't fix it you will tell everyone how bad they are. Word of mouth is the best way to get back at them...

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botti's picture

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Adam give Autocool a call

Wed, 2011-03-16 21:28

They specialise in compressors im sure the compressor will be heaps cheaper then that. They also do recon ones to ive used them heaps and worth the call 9328 1228

Adam Gallash's picture

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Date Joined: 29/11/05

Shit

Fri, 2011-03-18 10:16

Sounds like a few people have had tough dealings with Action Motors.

I wrote them this letter:

Good morning,

In reading your website, I see that your motto is "At Action Motors, we're committed to you".   This an encouraging sentiment and I trust your company is committed to it.

Two days prior to Christmas 2010, I purchased a 2005 Toyota Prado GXL Landcruiser from Action Motors, in which the air-conditioning compressor failed after two weeks.  I assumed this would be covered under the 3 month statutory warranty but on ringing your service manager to book the car in, I was advised that it is not covered.   As you can imagine, I am gutted about this but accept that it is fact.

I paid $40,000 for the Prado, not an insignificant amount, the car is still within warranty, the 100 point check clearly states that the airconditioning is working and I certainly expected with Action Motors' reputation, to own the car for years before being required to spend any money on repairs. 

While I realise you have no obligation to do anything, I am hoping that your public statement "Our commitment to customer service has enabled Action Motors to establish an excellent reputation for almost over 25 years. We value our customers because we value our own reputation"  will encourage you to do the ethical and right thing in helping to repair and/or replacing the airconditioning compressor.

I look forward to your favourable reply.

 

 

The response was by phone; if you had brought it in 2 weeks after it happened then it wouldn't be a problem, but seeing as its 2.5 months its not a fair and reasonable time period and we have to draw the line some where.  Even though a statutory warranty is 3 months and so is the warranties they offer, isn't that a fair and reasonable time period??  When it first started I just thought it was the belt requiring tightening and when it came to service time it would be ok, but its got progressively worse and now the news is bad.  The car has done 2350kms since bought at Christmas and 1250kms of those were driving it back to Exmouth.

 

Ahh well, not much that can be done, just hopefully any one out there reading this will give a few second thoughts to buying a car from this mob.

Cheers,

Adam

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Advertising

Fri, 2011-03-18 12:37

Hi Adam,

I have a very good friend who has had a car yard in Vic Park for 20 years. I ran your little problem past him. I asked him if your air con is covered under the statutory warranty. He said Yes - if your car was advertised as having air con!! There is an angle for you.

Hope it helps.

Cheers

 

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I will be driving past there

Sat, 2011-03-19 06:50

I will be driving past there a couple of times today. Want me to fling a couple of bricks their way?

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Small world

Sat, 2011-03-19 09:41

 was / am going there Tuesday at this stage, with my Bro who will be looking at a Landcruiser. Going to be a short visit - and I'll let them know why.

Adam Gallash's picture

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Feel free

Sat, 2011-03-19 10:51

Feel free Paully, hopefully the $1000 they didn't want to pay to do the righty will cost them a lot more than that in the long run.

Unfortunately I don't have the ad anymore West coast, wish I did though. :(

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UNFORTUNATLY one of the

Sat, 2011-03-19 13:24

UNFORTUNATLY one of the salesman there is seeing my wifes godmother ......was his name joe by any chance??

if so i could have a word to him

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Sorry to say but I know them

Tue, 2011-03-22 16:18

Sorry to say but I know them for quite a few years back when they were much smaller and I would have to say it does not surprise me in the least. They were always ripping people off and dont seem to have changed at all in the last twenty years that I have know that company. I for one would not buy a car from them even if it was the perfect car that I was looking for but then thats just my opinion.