You may have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act if you bought a new or used motor vehicle from a licensed or unlicensed dealer. You may have rights under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act if you bought a used motor vehicle from a licensed motor vehicle dealer.

You are not covered by these Acts if you bought at auction (although the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act covers auction sales by licensed dealers) or privately.

The Fair Trading Act covers sales by auctioneers, licensed and unlicensed dealers, in respect of misleading or false information about the motor vehicle.

If you bought your vehicle after 15 December 2003, and it is faulty, check out Faulty or defective vehicles.

Keep a record of the complaint

If your vehicle is faulty you will need to keep a record of problems to support your case. That is:

record the dates and times that problems happen
note down exactly what has happened
write down the names of any witnesses.

Then write to the dealer. Ask for a written answer telling you what the dealer will do about the fault. Or talk directly to the dealer, but write down what is said, what you both agree to do, and date it.

Consumer Guarantees Act

The Consumer Guarantees Act says that goods (including domestic vehicles bought from traders) must meet the following guarantees:

Acceptable Quality

To be of acceptable quality a vehicle must:

do what it is made to do and be fit for its normal purpose
have no small faults unless they are pointed out to you in a notice before you buy
be safe to use
be acceptable in look and finish considering the vehicle's condition, age, price and anything the dealer told you
be able to take a reasonable amount of wear and tear considering the vehicle's condition, age, price and anything the dealer told you.

Be fit for a particular purpose

The vehicle must be fit for any particular purpose that you tell the dealer about (eg, to tow a boat) or that the dealer says it is fit for.

Spare parts and repair facilities

Manufacturers, importers and distributors must make sure spare parts and repair facilities are available for a reasonable time for new vehicles they assemble or import, or used vehicles they import.

BUT this guarantee is only available to the first owner in New Zealand of a new or used vehicle.

If manufacturers, importers and distributors do not wish to provide spare parts and repair facilities, then they don't have to - BUT they must tell you this in writing at the time you buy the vehicle.

Consumer Guarantees Act remedies

If you buy a vehicle and it doesn't meet one of the above guarantees then you can claim against the dealer or importer.

Serious Faults

If the fault is serious, you can ask the dealer for your money back (give the dealer a dated written note saying that you are rejecting the vehicle because of the serious fault).

Minor faults

If the fault is not serious, the dealer can choose to repair the vehicle, replace it with an identical vehicle - or one that you agree on - or refund what you paid for the vehicle.

Remedies

If you do not know how serious the problem is the dealer should look at the vehicle and discuss the faults with you before you decide what options to take.

If the dealer takes an unreasonable amount of time to repair the vehicle than you can reject the vehicle and ask for your money back. Do this in writing.

If you and the dealer can't agree or the dealer refuses to do anything at all, then take the vehicle to an independent mechanic for a report on the fault and the cost to put it right. You can then decide if you want to reject it.

If you decide to:

reject it - take the car back to the dealer with a dated written note (keep a copy for yourself) saying that you are rejecting the car
get it repaired - contact the dealer giving them one more chance to repair and if they refuse then you can pay for the repairs to be done elsewhere and claim the cost back from the dealer.

Alternatively you can choose to claim against the importer if the vehicle is not of acceptable quality or doesn't meet the guarantees of spare parts or matching its description.

Motor Vehicle Dealers Act

The dealer must repair at no cost to you any fault that makes the vehicle under warranty:

unsafe
worth less than the market value
unusable.

The dealer must fix the problem so the vehicle is in reasonable condition considering its age, mileage and price.

Under this Act the dealer must give a warranty on every vehicle they sell.

Category A - Vehicles under four years old or under 50,000kms. The warranty is for three months or 5,000kms.

Category B - Vehicles under six years old or under 75,000 kms. The warranty is for two months or 3,000kms.

Category C - Vehicles under eight years old or under 100,000kms. The warranty is for one month or 1,500 kms.

Category D - Vehicles over eight years old or over 100,000kms. The vehicle must have a current warrant of fitness no more than 30 days old. It must be fit for its purpose and be of reasonable quality. Imported vehicles are given a category D warranty under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act if the age and mileage are unknown

Motor Vehicle Dealers Act remedies

If the vehicle has an A, B, or C warranty, negotiate with the dealer how and when the vehicle will be fixed.

(A D warranty does not give a time during which repairs must be made. The Consumer Guarantees Act offers more protection for buyers of category D vehicles.)

If the dealer delays you can get the repairs done by someone else. But first you must write to the dealer saying:

you intend to get the work done by someone else
stating the likely cost.

You must offer the dealer the chance to look at the vehicle first. If you make this offer, you can claim the cost of the repairs from the dealer. The dealer can refuse to fix the vehicle under the warranty if you continue to drive it and make the problem worse.

Motor Vehicle Dealers Act warranties do not cover

problems caused by an accident after you buy the vehicle
problems caused because you misused the vehicle or didn't keep it maintained
problems that got worse because you delayed getting the repairs done
problems caused by driving the vehicle in a motor sport
any fault listed on the window card with an estimated cost to fix.

Using the Disputes Tribunal or Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal

If the dealer or seller refuses to repair or replace your vehicle (which depend on the remedies you are entitled to) you may be able to file a claim with either the Disputes Tribunal or the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal.

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