Bad Experience!

We bought a Toyota Hilux Bakkie from Raceview Motors at the end of April 2019 and had a quite bad experience.

We were looking to buy a Hilux bakkie and did some extensive searching online to find the right deal. When we found the bakkie on Auto Trader, we corresponded with the dealer and they ensured us that the vehicle has no problems and in a very good condition. This will be my fifth vehicle that I buy online and knowing that I will be traveling from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg, I thought like in all my other transactions, the dealer would have told me if anything changed inherently on the vehicle and if there was any faults on the vehicle.

The dealer send us an initial quote on the vehicle, we negotiated a sales price and agreed on a final figure. We agreed that no delivery fee will be paid as I will be traveling to Johannesburg from Bloemfontein to collect the vehicle.

On my arrival at the dealer, we inspected the vehicle and I noticed that a bin cover was added to the vehicle. What troubled me was that little black knobs were fitted to the bin to fasten the cover. I asked person about that and he said that it was on the vehicle and I did not look good enough at the photos. As I travelled to Johannesburg and did have any other other means of transport, I thought OK I maybe missed it and can remove it at a later stage. It was a good deal.

While I was traveling back, I again visited Autotrader and saw that the knobs wasn't on the original photo's that was attached on Autotrader. I phoned the dealership again and the sales person informed me that it is my problem and he did not know that the photos on the internet differs from the actual vehicle. The tyres on the vehicle was also not very good and did have to put on new tyres that added another R 10 000 to my purchase price. The steering wheel was also full of smudges and grime and did I replace the steering wheel. When I changed the tyres they informed me that the brake pads are also worn and do I have to replace them also.

The sales person then again called me after a week and informed me that they are going to deduct R 6 900 from the cash back that we agreed upon as I did not pay on the day that I received the vehicle. I informed him that I was never informed of any money that needs to be paid on top of the finance amount as agreed upon.

He said he was going to listen to all our telephonic conversations to proof to me that he actually did tell me about this additional cost. He did that and got back to me that he nowhere could found proof that he or the FNI actually told me to pay the additional money. This was the delivery fee that we agreed upon eventually to be removed from the contract. He then put me through to the sales manager, Pieter, who told me that they would sue me if I take this to social media and that they are just going to deduct the delivery fee from my cashback.

Where I initially thought that I really got a good deal at Raceway Motors, I now have to pay an additional R 6 900 that was never agreed upon. I also have to remove the knobs and have to spend R 5 000 to do that. My total additional costs on this deal amounts to R 21 900 excluding the steering wheel and brake pad replacements making this deal not so good anymore.

I know that the issues on the vehicle I had to raise before I drove out of the dealership. I learnt my lesson and will most certainly not buy any vehicles from photos again from this dealership. It is better to buy locally, pay a few bucks more but know that you don't get any unforeseen surprises.