Sharechat Logo

Zodiac Motor Co fined $105,000 for false AA claims

Monday 12th December 2016

Text too small?

Car dealer Zodiac Motor Company in Auckland has been fined $105,000 after pleading guilty to charges brought by the Commerce Commission over falsely claiming its cars were appraised by the Automobile Association.

The company's sole director, Nezam Anwer, has made undertakings to pay any of the fine the company doesn't cover, the commission said.

In Manukau District Court, the dealership pleaded guilty to six charges under the Fair Trading Act related to false representations over the course of a year that vehicles it was selling were AA appraised, and that it was an AA Appraised used vehicle dealer, which it was not. Zodiac continued advertising itself as an appraised used vehicle dealer even after it knew AA had cancelled its membership.

"In March 2015 Zodiac aired 151 radio advertisements stating 'all cars are AA appraised' when Zodiac was not able to obtain AA appraisals for its vehicles as it was no longer an AA Appraised Used Dealer," the commission said. 

“Zodiac provided consumers with a measure of comfort that the vehicle they were considering purchasing had been inspected by an impartial, reliable body – when it hadn’t,” commissioner Anna Rawlings said. "Purchasing an unreliable vehicle can cause a lot of stress and many consumers take steps to avoid that. Most consumers are not in a position to make their own safety and mechanical assessments of a vehicle so traders must ensure representations about the condition of a vehicle and any inspections are accurate."

 

 

BusinessDesk.co.nz



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report