Be careful when buying a car at 100FindIt Auto - This is my depressing story

I purchased Minnie Cooper with over 109 000km on the 2017/05/22 at 100Findit Auto. I was told the car is in good condition and I took their word for it. Since I've bought a car there I'm going through financial depression.

I bought the car on 2017/05/22 and only received the car on the 02 June 2017, I drove it until early 19th of July when it stopped working completely, the car couldn't start, due to clutch issues; and this was not due to an accident or reckless driving. I’m a light driver and the car spent most of its time in a parking lot at my place at Dainfern.

One of the employees who works at 100find Trader, Jackie (his name), had informed me to return the car back for servicing once I’ve driven it for about 15 000km. The Minnie Copper had not exceeded 5000km and it stopped working altogether and according to them it was due to "clutch issues".

The car stopped in middle of the road in Deelpan in North West on my way back to Johannesburg. Its first long trip since I’ve bought it, the car just stopped moving and I had to drive it to the side of the road and call the dealer.

The dealer did not assist me on the day from where I was to tow the Mini Copper back to the dealer(100FindIT) although they made it seem like they would be there for me when I bought it. I had to pay over R4500 from my own pocket to arrange for the Minnie Cooper to be towed back to Boksburg at 100FindIt from where it dropped me in Deelpan in North West province.

The car was eventually towed to the dealer at 100FindIt who sent the car to their own RMA approved car repairs company. The car was assessed, the the car had clutch problems and needed to be replaced. I was therefore given 2 quotations; one for 13K and one for 20.3k but went with the one for R13 0000. I was told the difference between these amounts was that the 20.3k will have 12 months guarantee that the car will not have issues again. This made me uneasy because as it is the car seems to have been given to me in bad condition. I had not driven it for that long, it spent most of the time in my parking lot as I worked from home. I had asked about the history of the car when I bought it but much went into making me sign the papers by 100FindIt staff. I had not accessed the car myself to check whether it was in good condition, I only had their word that the car was fine.

Initially 100FindIt wanted me to pay for all the costs pertaining the car’s failure. So I spent a lot of money making calls to their departments with no response or much attention given to me. The month of July passed and in August 2017 I was then handed over to Gert after calling several times, Gert is the owner of the company 100FindIt, who advised that he will hand the matter to his team to resolve it as soon as possible as the car was still new to me. Gert then agreed to have the full amount paid towards the servicing of the car and I was relieved, and this is after informing him that I will have to go through the ombudsman to resolve the issue. He took my numbers and said he will call me back. The month of August, September, and October passed without hearing from Gert (100FindIt), he refused to take my calls and handed me over to a called Maurius who was completely mean towards me.

I reached out to 100FindIt again in August and eventually got hold of Gert, he then informed me that they will not be paying for the car and handed me to Marius Rudolph. Marius was not pleasant with me over the phone. Maruis then formulated a story that the car is not working because of reckless driving although that’s not true. He then dismissed Gert proposition to pay full amount for the car to be serviced and agreed to pay R4000. Desperate to have my car back I agreed to the R4000 100Find-It offered to pay toward the R13 000 owed for servicing the car and I also agreed to settle the remaining R9000.

I waited July, August and September and October fighting 100Findit to pay for the car warrantee and they still did not pay. The bank eventually got involved and I received my car back from service but not in good condition. I sent Wesbank and the warranty company that the car is not in good condition and none of them responded.

The car broke down in February shortly after receiving it from service in November and they want R68 000 to fix it. I'm now stuck with a Mini Copper that's not working at all, and I am expected to pay for it every month for its instalment.

I've lodged a compliant with the Ombudsman again hoping they'll assist me and I am generally going through depression since this incident.

********** 949 is my number if you're looking for a full story on this.