********* dealership refusing to refund our deposit.

We underwent a vehicle hire deal (Rent to buy) with the Western Autohaus dealership under their ownarental division in 2017. Needless to say, we have had many issues with the car from the onset but being in need of a car at that time we beared it all and would endure a constant back and forth what with the car having to be repaired for something every other month. Throughout this time we never missed any of the installments, serviced the car, added new tyres, smash and grab etc.

We would be without a vehicle for weeks/ months at a time but would still honour our monthly payments. The car would sometimes have to go back to their mechanics for the same faults over and over, without it being repaired correctly. It seems they would do surface jobs . The car would have to go back THE SAME DAY that it was supposedly fixed for the very same issue or a different one. The shoddy mechanic they had was dismissed due to many of their clients returning the cars because he would not do a proper job on the cars.

We had an issue where the car came back from them and while driving back from the dealership noise could be heard coming from the wheels. Luckily we pulled over and checked what it was, just to find that the wheel nuts had not been tied securely at both the front wheels. One time the wheel bearing was supposed to be fixed and we were told that the car was ready for collection just to find that the entire thing was still lose. The car had to be towed back to the dealership. It was after that where that mechanic was fired. We suffered many hardships with the car and the final straw was when we were left stranded in Kimberley with a car that refused to start. We did not want to fiddle with anything on the car and phoned the dealership on what to do as we were also paying insurance on the car. We followed their advise on what to do and got the car to a dealership in Kimberley to check the fault. No one could ascertain what was wrong. To make a long story short, we left the car that side, had to arrange and pay for towing ourselves as the insurance only covered a few kilometres (We did not know this). The dealership could not find the fault nor fix the car for months and then wanted us to pay for the repair out of our pockets while in all essence and as per the agreement the car remains their property and possession for the entire time of the agreement up until the rental period is over and all transfer processes have been done. We have subsequently decided to end the agreement as it was not working out and not beneficial to us at all. Why should we have to pay for a car that does not belong to us and that they can take and sell to the next desperate client again just like that? We now require our deposit back as we honoured all the installments to date. We have sent an official letter requesting our R21000.00 deposit to be paid back to us but all correspondence have gone unanswered.

The sales person Ennis that took over from the woman whom we initially signed the agreement with told us that he has forwarded and talked to the owner Clifford Holtshausen regarding our request but he did not say anything and that there is only so much that he (Ennis) can do as he is only an employee at Western Autohaus. This is ********* and unprofessional as we are getting no response from them regarding our deposit. We need our money back as they have the car in their possession.