For a car that was manufactured in November 2007 but registered in 2008, under what year should the car model be recognized with?
This is the question that was aroused when Cheng May Choo chided her car-dealer for allegedly cheating her car’s manufacturing date today at the Pantai PKR service centre.
Cheng bought an imported Nissan Skyline GRT from a second-hand car dealer based in SS23, Petaling Jaya April this year.
Cheng said that the car, which she bought for RM 530,000 was supposed to be a 2008 model.
However, after being advised by a car mechanic while servicing, she discovered that the chassis indicates a 2007 automobile and not a 2008 edition.
“I checked with a credible Japanese website and it confirmed that my car was manufactured in November 2007,” Cheng said.
“I feel cheated because a 2007 car is not worth the RM530,000 I paid, and I will have to sell it for a much lower price,” she added.
However all registration documents of the car have stated that it is a 2008 car, including the export certificate issued by the Japanese agency.
Cheng attempted to seek RM30,000 in compensation from the car-dealer, but she claimed the latter only agreed to give RM10,000.
Lembah Pantai member of parliament Nurul Izzah Ibrahim, in response to Cheng’s complaint, said that she will bring up the issue pertaining consumer rights at the Parliament.
“I will also bring her to lodge a police report today,”
She alerted the public who intend to purchase second hand cars to be extra careful.
Nurul Izzah
Nurul Izzah’s aide Jacky Wong added that a one year manufacturing year difference would set the price back by about RM50,000.
The car-dealer Patrick Chiam, when contacted, stressed that he did not dupe the woman because the car was indeed registered in 2008.
“Car-dealers recognise a manufacturing date of a car through the license issued by road and transport department (JPJ). Since her JPJ license stated that it is a 2008 car, it will be so,” he said
“There won’t be any reduction in her car value,” he added
He stressed that to compensate her with RM30,000 is an impossible task since he too had paid the import duty according to 2008 tax structure.
“If I paid the much cheaper 2007 duty and sold it to her as 2008 model, then I am cheating,” he said.
Chiam said he had done his best to fork out RM10,000 as a form of compensation for Cheng.
“If she really wants to sue me, there’s nothing I can do about it,” he said.
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