A brand new car is sometimes stolen from a car dealership.
According to Times Live, brand-new cars get stolen from dealerships all the time, which is a shame, so dealerships that don’t do enough to protect their customers’ cars aren’t acting responsibly. And because of that, they are responsible for any such loss.
The Consumer Protection Act says that companies must “exercise the degree of care, diligence, and skill that can be reasonably expected of a person in charge of managing someone else’s property.” And “is responsible to the property owner for any loss that results from failing to do so.”
But many dealerships sneak a clause into their terms and conditions that protect them from any losses their customers might have. They do this because they think they won’t be responsible if a brand new car is stolen from their lot.
No, that’s not true. Companies can’t make deals outside of the law.
Brand new car, gone!
Justice Mariba recently took his brand new car, an 18-month-old Hyundai i10 to the Hyundai Fourways dealership to get a warranty battery replacement. The service adviser couldn’t find the keys on his desk when he went to get it.
It turned out 10 minutes later, a man had driven away in the car. When asked for his driver’s license, he couldn’t find it, so the security guard took a picture of him and let him go.
The dealership told Mariwa to look at their terms and conditions and said to him that all they could do was pay his insurance deductible.
I told Hyundai South Africa about the problem, and as a result, Mariwa will get a brand new car, an i10 at no cost to him.
“Hyundai Automotive SA and Hyundai Fourways are truly sorry for putting Mr. Mariwa through trouble and stress,” I was told. “It doesn’t fit with our values that the dealership took so long to make this decision. Hyundai is very concerned about the safety and security of our customers, their cars, and our staff.
“Unfortunately, we do business in a country with a lot of theft and other crimes.
“The management of Hyundai Fourways did a thorough investigation with the help of their security provider, and they have already put the suggestions into action. Plans can’t be shared in detail for obvious reasons.”
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So, before you give your car and its keys to a service provider, you should ask them what controls they have in place to keep your car safe while it is in their care. Do they ensure the keys are always out of reach of anyone on the street? What about door locks? Are there any checks for someone who wants to drive off in a customer’s car? You have every right to find out if they are serious about this.
