Need advise and help immediately

[challengerguy]

On the 10th of Feb 2013 I bought a used 2012 Dodge Challenger GCC specs from a dealer in Sharjah. Before buying the car I took the VIN no & checked with the agency (Trading enterprises- TE) regarding the car. The rashidiya branch as well as the musaffah branch confirmed to me that the car was under warranty till 2017, but that there was an accident on the car. They were not willing to reveal the intensity of the accident as I was not the owner of the car. The seller from whom I bought the car informed me that he bought it from an auction in perfect condition and that the previous owner left the country without paying the car loan hence the bank had auctioned the car to recover the money. The car had only 16k kms on it.

On Sunday the 24th of Feb suddenly out of nowhere my car had an overheating problem and it started leaking coolant everywhere. I called TE service centre Musaffah, informed them about the breakdown and confirmed from them again about the warranty by giving my VIN no and they confirmed me back that for sure the car is under warranty. They also gave me their free recovery service as the car was under warranty. the car was picked up and dropped at the service centre the same evening. The next day when I went to the service centre I met their sales guy and explained to him in detail the problem that I had faced. The guy asked me for my registration card, checked the computer and then excused himself away from me and went to some other place. He came back after 10 minutes opened his computer again and showed me an email from the previous insurance company stating that the car is a "Salvage". The email was dated 12th February 2013, two days after I registered the car. But he did not show me the mail clearly (no vin no mentioned or car description mentioned).

Upon checking the earlier documents I came to know that the car had a right frontal collision in october. The damages were to the radiator, condensor, cooling fan, bumper, head lights, right knuckle etc... No damage to the engine or transmission or the rest of the car. The agency costed a repair cost of 96k AED (almost 75% the value of a new car). The previous owner was paid the full amount for the car & on 24th November 2013 the insurance company claimed the car back from the agency in the accident condition, repaired it from a garage with some new original parts and some duplicates and then sold it off in the auction.

According to TE it took the insurance company four months to declare the car as "Salvage" and moreover TE sales team are not even willing to give me the documents which states that the car's warranty is void and the previous documents including the accident repair quote. As the owner of the car i have the right to get all those papers but they are refusing to give them to me.

In the accident repair quote i saw an abnormal addition of rear shock absorbers and suspension. The accident was a frontal collision, then why rear parts are quoted? seems as if the quote was not entirely true and was purposely increased so that the insurance company declares it as a salvage and pays the previous owner the full amount of the car.

Now i need help here since i dont know what to do in this regard. I feel as if I have been conned by someone. My cars cooling fan is busted and the agency is quoting 3200 AED in repairs. Can someone help me with the following:

1) My car was declared as a salvage two days after i registered it. Are uae specs salvaged cars allowed to be registered in UAE?

2) Trading Enterprises are making excuses to give me the cars documents. How can I get it from them?

3) Can I file a case in consumer court against the insurance company or TE, as the insurance company took too much time in declaring the car as salvage and TE had been telling me all this while that the car was under warranty and now suddenly they say that there is no warranty and moreover they refuse to give me the documents.

My loss is their gain.

Thanks

[root]

You've definitely been conned, but then this happens quite often over here unfortunately. In the US there is a law where salvaged cars cannot be sold for road usage, but I don't think there is such a law in UAE, as a lot of those US-salvaged vehicles come here, dressed pretty and sold to unknown buyers here.

Your case is slightly different, which is that you were conned by 2 local registered entities - an insurance company and TE, which is a large reputable firm belonging to the largest automotive group here. So, I would guess you have a better chance to get some justice. Your stance should be to return your car back to TE and get full money back, and that TE sold you the car in mis-trust.

My first suggestion would be to go to TE and try to escalate this issue higher up with them. Most probably they will find a solution and give you your money back. They should, as they sell thousands of cars yearly and their reputation loss would be much higher. Your story looks like a great front cover news for 7-days or Express Weekly, which I'm sure TE would not like to see themselves on. (Note however that Al-Futtaim is one of the largest advertisers here as well, so many newspapers will not publish anything negative about them! Journalism for you!!)

If the above does not work, then I'd suggest to go to RTA and try to meet someone who can help in this regard.

You can always go to the consumer complaints, but I've never even seen them acknowledging a complaint, let alone do anything about it. Maybe things have changed however. Courts..that should be your last resort - its a lot of time and cost involved.

Go to TE, and make noise there! Try to meet someone higher if the current salesperson is not cooperating. That's where I would start. Hopefully common sense will prevail over there.

[tal_al_]

Hey sad hear about the happening! Please keep us posted with the update. It would b a lesson for all especially expats,to be extra concious while dealing with 2nd hand cars.

[root]

well, car dealers everywhere are pretty much the lowest form of mankind in most place

In UAE, a lot of lemons are sold. If you are buying an 'imported' car, especially from US, then make sure twice about the history of the car!

[tal_al_]

Well that is the case globally, still where there is strict implementation of laws, car dealers are also conscious in giving false statements.Anyways, may ALLAH save us all from such cases. Anyways could anyone provide with a checklist, giving all the important points to be considered before buying a second hand used car. As I might b buying one in a while.

[root]

The best is to try to get its official vehicle history. If its a US import, you can do this through Carfax or similar websites. For local cars, now RTA has a service for this. We will be implementing a link to it on our website as well. It is however a paid service.

What I would do in general is to take the car to a good workshop and pay them the 300 dhm to get it properly checked. This can be done at the dealership if the car is something special or a newer model - they can put in the computer and get a lot of diagnostics and also give you a guesstimate on costs to get it fixed.

The other good reliable choice is to go to an RTA testing center like Tasjeel and tell them you want a full vehicle check up. They charge around the same and will do a thorough un-biased test.

[tal_al_]

Thanks for the input! Will keep it under my regulations during car hunt:)