12:20 pm, August 17, 2022
Car Dealer likes to stay on top of the news here in the UK – but sometimes there’s the odd headline on our alerts from other parts of the world that are just too good to ignore.
Instead of deleting them, though, we decided that the occasional round-up of the apparently not-too-far-fetched stories from around the world might make some light reading.
Here’s what’s caught our eye this time around.
‘Witch’ sets fire to used car dealership
- USA
A woman has been arrested after police say they caught her using a book of spells and a gun to set fire to a car dealership in the States. Kristy Malzi is facing charges of reckless burning and terror threats after a rampage at a used car site where her ex-boyfriend worked. The woman had escaped from hospital and used pages from the witchcraft spell book to set one car alight.
Dealership worker calls out rude customer on TikTok
- USA
A customer-facing dealership worker in the States got so fed up dealing with angry customers that she took to TikTok to moan about them. Emely Cristina’s video has been viewed nearly a million times and details an angry call she had with a customer who wanted a state inspection on their car. Cristina explains she just puts angry customers on hold ‘the minute she hears attitude’.
Man arrested for hiring luxury cars and selling them to car dealers
- Thailand
A man has been arrested by police in Thailand after he was caught trying to sell luxury hire cars to dealerships using falsified documents. The suspect tricked several car hire firms into renting him luxury cars worth £1.7m and then, with an accomplice, he was alleged to have falsified documents and sold them on. Nine of the 12 cars were recovered and the used car dealers are being investigated to ensure they didn’t know the documents were false.
Car dealers may have to prove where customers’ cash is from
- South Africa
Car dealers in South Africa will have to provide the identity and source of income of their car buyers if proposals to quash money-laundering are passed. Authorities want dealers to help stem the flow of illicit cash as they believe weak regulation of the used car market has made the business attractive to drug dealers and fraudsters. Treasury staff are reviewing laws to make it mandatory for dealers to prove where the cash to buy cars is from.
Man torches dealership over car bought 36 years ago
- Indiana, USA
A Jeep owner was so peeved off with the car he bought 36 years ago that he set light to the dealership that sold it to him. O’Daniel Automart in Indiana sold Dewey Fredrick a Jeep in 1986 that he says had a faulty engine which, he claims, the dealer didn’t put right. The feud led to the buyer turning up late one evening, opening the fuel cap of the car and sticking a flare in it. Fredrick was caught by cops and has been charged with arson.
Dealers branded ‘despicable’ as car prices soar
- Australia
It’s not just in the UK where used car prices have rocketed – it’s the same Down Under. In Oz, car dealers have come under fire for charging more than $10,000 for nearly new vehicles in stock as buyers want to get their hands on new models that are in scant supply. Reports say dealers are ‘taking advantage’ of the situation with ‘extravagant prices’ charged for models in stock. Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber said the ballooning costs of demonstrator models in showrooms was ‘appalling’ and labelled those responsible ‘despicable’.
