Page 4283 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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a used-car dealership in February. Eight months and multiple faults and repairs later, Byron does have one clear regret. When he was initially looking at the car, he did consider getting an independent mechanic to inspect the vehicle. He broached the idea with the salesperson at the dealership, who insisted that a reputable mechanic had already inspected the car and that there was nothing wrong with it. Byron wishes he had pushed back harder. I can appreciate Byron’s regret. But I think it is worth acknowledging that for some people, particularly in terms of negotiations, there is a power imbalance when you are the purchaser of something and someone knows more about the industry and what they are doing there. That seems to be blatantly what happened in Byron’s case, and I think it is true of others as well.
I do think I have been misrepresented in the comments that Mrs Dunne made about me. But I also appreciate that the tone of my interjection was poor, and I withdraw it. I did not mean to suggest in any way that there is an activity of collusion of mechanics in this town. However, what I am hearing is that it is very hard to find a genuine second, independent opinion in this town. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe that is not the case. I really hope it is not the case. But that is what I am hearing. There is a perception in this town that it is hard to find an independent second opinion. I have heard of one client, just recently, who travelled all the way to Sydney to get a second opinion on a used vehicle that they were buying. That goes to the point I was trying to make. I do appreciate it was in poor form and I do withdraw it. But I also think that the way in which Mrs Dunne characterised it was wrong.
Another issue is the expectation that comes with purchasing a car through a dealership as opposed to a private sale. The Consumer Law Centre has witnessed this firsthand through its interactions with clients seeking advice about statutory warranties and consumer law. Consumers purchasing second-hand cars from private sellers are genuinely much more attuned to the buyer beware principle. Consumers buying through a used-car dealership often believe they are better protected. I think what has emerged today is that this might not necessarily be the case. It is just worth having a look at.
Not everyone has a negative experience when purchasing a second-hand motor vehicle. Mrs Dunne is a great case in point. But the thing is, too many do, people like Byron and Jess, and they are not alone. A significant portion of the Consumer Law Centre’s work involves providing legal advice and assistance to Canberrans about the application of statutory warranties and Australian consumer law. The fact that a significant proportion of their work involves second-hand motor vehicles raises an alarm with me. And it really should raise an alarm with the opposition, who I have to say have been quite hypocritical in comparison to what they were saying yesterday.
It is a confusing process. It is a stressful process. It can be incredibly expensive. Often the people who are buying older second-hand vehicles have fewer funds. So when something goes wrong with that older or more driven second-hand vehicle they do not have the money for the repairs. Not only do they not end up with any vehicle; they end up potentially with a debt or a really big dint in their savings.
Talking about standing up for vulnerable Canberrans, as the opposition has been banging on about this week, that is exactly what this motion goes to. If Mr Wall was
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