I was sold a car under false information by Bidvest McCarthy be westgate

Hi,

I purchased a vehicle (Golf 6 Gti) from Bidvest McCarthy VW westgate towards the end of last year - (end Nov into Dec 2023)

The service is terrible, borderline ******* to be quite straight.

I was told the vehicle has been checked and all is perfect with the car from a salesman that is also a friend (so I wouldn’t think I needed to 2nd guess him as he would look out for the safety and interest of me as a friend not only as a salesman)!

Problems that went wrong Week 1 - Engine light came on and limp mode The car wouldnt rev over 4000rpm and would lose power.

Week 1 - service light came on after I was told that the car was serviced before handover.

Week 1 - The key got stuck in the ignition and wouldn’t come out. (You had to look for the sweet spot to take it out - which one usually finds after a minimum of 5minutes - not cool when you’re in a rush or late for a gig/work)

Week 1 - I had a slow puncture - took the car to the BEST DRIVE FOURWAYS and they said the tyres put on the car were very old so the tyre cracked. Wasn’t even a puncture but a crack due to age. (I was told that the car is coming with new tyres)

Week 2 - Car would only start once putting some petrol (foot on the accelerator - not normal for a golf 6 - it should start at the 1st go)

Week 2 - parked the car off and used public transport as I didn’t want to get stuck. I work mainly at night/early hours of the morning. I can’t risk getting stuck anywhere.

NOTE: While all of this was happening, I alerted the salesperson whom I bought the car from. He said just switch the car on and off and it will be fine. (Tried that and it didn’t change anything)

Due to my demanding job I need something reliable and safe especially when driving at night and I can’t just be stopping anywhere to switch the car on and off.

I took the car back to be sorted out on a Monday Last Monday of Jan or 1st Monday of Feb 2024. Can’t remember exact date but you get the idea. I was insured it will be sorted out and the problem isn’t major - it was a sensor that was the problem. Alerted by the salesman as he said that’s what the workshop told him.

It’s now the 6th of march (more than 3 weeks later) The loan car that was given to me had a permit which I had expired on the 3rd of march 2024. The dealership is unable to provide me with a new permit - this affects my work because I have no form of personal transport. The update on the repair is indefinite- they can’t say when the car will be ready.

I demanded a report from the workshop to see with my own eyes what’s going on. It wasn’t just a sensor but rather 35k worth of things that needed to be sorted AND still can’t give a timeline on when the car will be ready and fixed.

I sent the list to a trained professional in that field (external VW mechanic) and he advised me that it’s not safe or reliable to take on that car after all that is showed to be wrong with it.

The problem is - I would never get into a car that had that much issues because I need reliability - the car was sold under false pretences and information.

- it’s only fair that since I am protected by the consumer act that I ask for an upliftment of goods.

- I am stuck without a car now and I need to buy another car and cannot wait on the GTI to be fixed with no timeline

The car was sold under false information about the car.