Dudley car trader fined after selling corroded car with broken brakes for £3,500
A car dealer has been fined after selling a Subaru for more than £3,000 on Gumtree despite it not being safe to drive.
Stephen Hickman, who traded as Netherton Car Sales, sold a Subaru Forester with broken brakes and serious corrosion for £3,500.
He admitted the supply of an unroadworthy car and to misleading a consumer about the extent of corrosion on a car at Walsall Magistrates Court.
Two customers from Doncaster travelled to Netherton to view the car and were told by the trader that the corrosion did not affect its structure.
The extent of the corrosion only came to light when the customer started wire brushing the rust off the bottom of the Subaru with the intention of spraying it with Waxoyl and found the rusted holes.
A vehicle expert later concluded that the “corrosion was very well established” and was “extremely severe near to the rear suspension top mountings, making the vehicle unroadworthy".
The vehicle expert also found “the brakes to be defective in that the offside rear wheel cylinder was leaking” and commented that “all of the faults on this vehicle could have easily been identified by any careful and competent member of the motor trade prior to sale".
Hickman of Seymour Road, Stourbridge, was ordered to pay a full refund and fined £1,620. With costs he was told to a pay a total of more than £13,000.
Councillor Nicolas Barlow, Dudley Council's cabinet member responsible for trading standards, said: "This prosecution sends out a clear message to car traders that they have a responsibility to check that the vehicles they sell are lawful and safe to use on the road and are described accurately
"Dudley Trading Standards will not hesitate to investigate complaints where consumers have been misled or where they have been sold an unroadworthy vehicle."
