New Lynn company Park 2 Sell has been fined $15,000 for telling customers they weren't protected by the law because they had bought their car on a "tender" basis.

The dealer negotiated cheaper prices for some cars if customers signed a "tender" form which included the statement, "I also confirm I am aware that this vehicle is sold by tender and no warranty is implied or given."

Sales by tender or auction are exempt from the Consumer Guarantees Act, but the Court found that Park 2 Sell was not offering genuine tender sales because purchase prices had already been agreed with the buyers.

In the Waitakere District Court on Friday, Judge Blaikie found Park 2 Sell guilty of breaching the Fair Trading Act by misleading consumers about their rights and the remedies that were available to them. The two individual charges and one representative charge related to 15 customers who bought cars from Park to Sell between November 2004 and June 2005. Park 2 Sell was also ordered to pay $570 in reparation to a customer whose vehicle needed repairs shortly after he purchased it.

Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading Deborah Battell says that car dealers could not contract out of their legal obligations.

"Park 2 Sell may have thought it had found a legal loophole by selling cars through a so-called tender process," Ms Battell says.

"Such a loophole does not exist. Consumers have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act and traders can not deprive them of those rights."

Ms Battell said the Commerce Commission was aware that a few car dealers were using sham "tender" processes to try and avoid their legal obligations.

"Consumers will generally have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, despite what car dealers may tell them," Ms Battell says.