8:04 am, June 6, 2013
A COUNTY Antrim car dealer has been fined £300 for misleading a customer into buying a car with a category C insurance write-off.
Blair Buchanan, who trades as Blair Buchanan Car Sales at Craigs Road, Carrickfergus, failed to tell the buyer that the Vauxhall Meriva she bought had been a Cat C write-off.
The case was brought to court by the Trading Standards Service, where Mr Buchanan pleaded guilty to an offence under the Consumer Protection from the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs).
Belfast Magistrates Court heard the woman bought the car from Buchanan in March 2011. Later, when she tried to trade the car in, she discovered that the vehicle had previously been recorded as a category C insurance loss.
The woman had not been told this at any stage of her dealings with Buchanan and said that if she had been aware of the previous write-off, she definitely would have not bought the car.
Lisa Mallon of the Trading Standards Service told the BBC: ‘All second hand car dealers much ensure that they give consumers all the information needed to make an informed decision before a sale. Important information must not be hidden or omitted.
‘In this case the vehicle had previously been subject to an insurance loss, a fact that would have affected the selling price of the vehicle and the consumer would not have purchased this vehicle is she had been told about the insurance write-off.’
