Appalling aftersales service from WeBuyCars

On the 5th October 2024 my partner & I bought a 2011 Tiguan from WeBuyCars The Dome. The car needed a service & as our mechanic was busy, we only managed to book an appointment for the 23rd of October. In the meantime, we waited for the paperwork to be ready. We were told this would take up to 21 days. After a few weeks I contacted the salesman & asked if the paperwork was ready. He explained that as we’d bought a “green” car, WeBuyCars would just register the vehicle in my name & we would be responsible for preparing the car for roadworthy & obtaining a roadworthy. We would then have to take the roadworthy certificate to the Licensing department & they’d give us a copy of the NATIS documents & our new license disc. Although I was surprised at this, it seemed reasonable & I therefore asked our mechanic to attend to the roadworthy specific items as detailed in the Dekra report supp**** by WeBuyCars whilst the car was in for its service. The Dekra report noted that the lower arm bushes were worn & the lower arms were therefore changed by our mechanic. The gearbox mountings were worn but our mechanic said these could wait as they were not going to get any worse. The Dekra report also mentioned an oil leak & it was whilst diagnosing this our mechanic noted that the engine had major internal damages. Note that the Dekra report specifically stated that no engine defects were detected. On the 28th of October 2024 I contacted the WeBuyCars salesman & he advised us to lodge a complaint through the WeBuyCars customer care portal. I duly did so. Their response after 10 working days was & I quote :

“You repaired the Vehicle, without the knowledge and/ or consent of We Buy Cars and therefore you voided your imp**** warranty in terms of section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (“CPA”). “

In my response, I stated :

Note that no motor repairs were carried out as stated in your letter. Only a service & a diagnosis. See invoice attached. However, you further note in your terms & conditions that I am "responsible to do a roadworthy test together with the required repairs to make the vehicle safe for use on a public road." This appears to be a direct contradiction of point 1 of your letter. I now sit in the position of having spent over 91 thousand rand on a vehicle that I cannot drive & cannot get roadworthied. I have also spent 13 thousand rand in servicing the vehicle & trying to get it into a roadworthy state. In essence, I have a very expensive paperweight.

According to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) , a consumer has a right to receive goods that are of a reasonable standard suitable for the purpose for which it is intended, and that it must remain of an acceptable quality for a reasonable period of time. To my mind, a vehicle that cannot be driven does not constitute "a reasonable standard suitable for the purpose for which it is intended."

They then declined to enter into any further communications & I suggested that that take the matter up with the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa. I duly did so.

The Ombudsman gave WeBuyCars ten working days to respond to the complaint & WeBuyCars duly responded directly to the Ombudsman on 10 December 2024.

After complete silence, on 20th of February 2025 the Ombudsman handed down their findings & again, I quote : “we note that during the service of the vehicle the complainant had authorised additional repairs namely right and left front lower control arm bushes and ribbed belt tensioner. These repairs have caused the warranty imp**** by Section 56 subsection 2 not be in affect anymore. The office of the MIOSA will not be able to enforce the respondent to repair/replace or refund the purchase price paid for the vehicle.” So, after having a car we cannot use, with no paperwork , sitting in our garage for almost five months we find ourselves stuck. With no clue how to proceed. Although we have had successful dealing with WeBuyCars in the past, this has left us extremely frustrated. I believed that doing the gentlemanly thing and following due process would lead to a favourable result. Unfortunately it appears that this is not the case. I advise anyone dealing with WeBuyCars to be very very careful indeed.