Bidvest McCarthy VW Witbank failed to get my vehicle tested for road worthiness.

In October 2021 I bought a financed new VW Polo Vivo Comfortline from Bidvest McCarthy VW Witbank. A year later, which is this month, I went to renew my license disk. To my surprise, the traffic department told me that my vehicle was not tested for road worthiness.

The traffic department charged me late renewal penalties. I was so shocked and angry!

I went to the salesman who sold me the vehicle to ask him how could this happen because I paid them, the dealership, the licensing and registration fees because this is what they charge when you buy a vehicle from the dealership. He did not not give me any answer.

He called the person who was responsible for creating orders for the test station and arranged road worthy testing for my vehicle.

With regards to the penalties that I paid at traffic department, he said he will inform his supervisor about the matter and see if they can refund me.

All these happened on Friday afternoon and my whole weekend was ruined by their incompetence.

On Monday the sales person came to my work place to collect the vehicle and take it to the testing station and the vehicle was indeed tested.

A week later I followed up with the sales person about my refund via text, but he didn't reply. Five days on.

I don't know what to call this. How can one pay for the service that one can't receive? They sold me a vehicle that was registered under their dealership's name, they changed the ownership but they failed to test the vehicle road worthiness under my name.

According to the traffic department, every time a vehicle is registered under a new owner it must be tested for road worthiness.

I was exposed, for the whole year, to the risk of accident claims being rejected by my insurance provider due to unroadworthiness of the vehicle. Fortunately no adverse events happened to the vehicle during the past 12 months. Thank you Jesus!

I want to warn everyone who is planning to buy a vehicle from this dealership. Please be careful. Make sure that your vehicle is tested when buying a vehicle there. Don't accept a vehicle from these guys with a license disk already fitted, rather ask for a temporary license so that you can follow up with them before 21 days when the temp expires.

As for me, I will not give up until I get my refund for the penalties that I have paid at traffic department.

You might not believe me that this is the second time that I have experienced poor service from these guys.

I bought a car for cash from this dealership a year before and they didn't want to give me a spare key.

What happened is that the same sales person told me to come back the following day to collect the spare key. He told me that he didn't know where it was and that he will ask his supervisor where he put it. I had to call Volkswagen SA to intervene and it took them 4 months to resolve the issue. They then decided to buy a new spare key for me after I've faught so hard.

I didn't give up then to force them to give me my spare key and I will not give up now to force them to give back my money.