Invercargill Ford dealer, Macaulay Motors Limited, has been found guilty of four charges after leasing a used car while claiming it was new and selling a new car with a used transmission.
Judge Moran has not set a sentencing date but has asked for written penalty submissions. The Commerce Commission prosecuted the company, which trades as Macaulay Ford.
Macaulay Ford New Car Sales Manager, Grant Gibson, had previously pleaded guilty to three charges relating to the same incidents. Mr Gibson had been fined $1,740.
A customer who bought a new Ford Laser from Macaulay Ford had complained about unacceptable engine noise. He was at first told that the noise was a characteristic of the model but eventually he was offered a new engine.
The "new" engine had been taken from another Laser which had travelled 1,626km. The odometer was wound back to 2km to make it look like a new engine.
The engine from the first Laser, which had travelled more than 2,000km, was put into the second Laser and the odometer was left reading 2km. This car was then leased as a new car.
In another incident a customer wanted to buy an automatic Ford Telstar TX5i. At that time this model was not available with an automatic transmission.
Macaulay Ford replaced the Telstar's manual transmission with the automatic transmission from a used rental car. The Telstar was sold as a new car and the customer was not told a second-hand transmission had been installed.
After the Commission executed a search warrant and interviewed Macaulay Ford staff, the company spent close to $22,000 making reparations to its customers but continued to deny it had breached the Fair Trading Act.
Macaulay Ford Chief Executive, Alan McElroy, was found not guilty of three charges relating to these incidents. Judge Moran said while Mr McElroy knew of the incidents, there was conflicting evidence about when he learned of the lease and what his instructions had been about the transmission. Judge Moran said the Commission had not proved the charges against Mr McElroy beyond reasonable doubt.
Media contact:Vince Cholewa, Communications Officer
