Bad sale: Former LHC judge wants damages for defective vehicle

Court issues respondent notice for July 19.

LAHORE:

A consumer court on Friday issued a notice to an advertiser and his business partner for July 19 in a petition seeking Rs1.5 million in damages for allegedly selling a defective car to the petitioner.

Justice (retired) Nasira Javed Iqbal filed that petition saying that on April 22, 2012 she saw an advertisement in a newspaper for the sale of a 2009 model blue Toyota Belta car.

She said she contacted the dealer Ans Sohail Butt on the number given in the advertisement to buy the car.

She said she was told that the car had been imported by one Mukhtar Ahmed on behalf of Butt. She said she was assured that the car was in a good condition and had no mechanical or other defects. She said she purchased the car at Rs1.23 million.

However, after a few months, she said some defects surfaced in the car’s engine that had started making noises. She said she showed it to a mechanic, who told her that the car had certain defects resulting from accidents. He also told her that the car’s bonnet, its right side front door and the roof had been repainted. Some parts were welded, he told her. He said the engine was out of alignment and the air conditioner’s pulley was broken. The latter, he said, was the source of the annoying noise.

She said she contacted the respondent, who said the noise was a minor problem and referred her to another workshop. The mechanic there charged her Rs33,250 for the repair, but the AC still did not work.

She said she requested the respondent to pay for the repair but he ignored her.

She said she also paid Rs18,000 to one Tariq Amin, on the directions of the respondent, for transferring the car in her name. Later, she said, she found out that the charges for transfer set by the Motor Vehicle Registration Authority were Rs9,957.

She requested the court to direct the respondent to provide her a substitute car or pay Rs1.5 million as damages for the mental agony he had caused her.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Butt said that he had earlier informed the petitioner that the car had been imported from Japan and there was no guarantee for its condition. Moreover, he said, a mechanic and a driver had checked the car before she bought it, and declared it fit for purchase.

He said he had transferred the car in her name before she made the payment for the car. He said the dealers are not responsible for minor problems that the cars develop.

He also said he was prepared to purchase the car back with a deduction on account of the time it had been in the petitioner’s use.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2012.