Motorists have been warned about a car sales scam in which UK companies offer to find buyers for Irish people who are selling cars. Paul Cullen, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, reports.
Invariably, no buyer is found for the car and the seller loses the fee paid, according to the European Consumer Centre in Dublin.
The consumer centre says that it received 169 complaints against four different UK-based companies offering a vehicle matching service last year. Typically, the fee charged was about €115.
In the scam, an Irish person who has a car for sale, advertised on a legitimate website or in a magazine, is contacted by one of the companies offering to match the car to a buyer.
Complainants reported being told that the car was guaranteed to sell or that the company would continue matching it with potential buyers until it was sold.
"Inevitably, a buyer is not found, and when consumers complain they are referred to the terms and conditions on the companies' website. These state that there is no guarantee that a buyer will be found and so the consumer is refused a refund," according to the consumer centre's annual report.
The centre says that it has been "impossible" to resolve these disputes amicably. A file on the complaints has been sent to the National Consumer Agency for further referral to the UK consumer enforcement agencies.
However, because of a difficulty in finding specific breaches of consumer law, the consumer centre says that it is "less than positive" about a successful outcome.
Last year, the centre received 418 car-related complaints, almost three times as many as in 2005. Some 129 related to car rental, with the biggest problem being the retrospective charging of credit cards for alleged damaged done to rental cars.
There were also 112 complaints about new and second-hand cars purchased abroad. The centre says that retailers have an obligation to repair cars or any other product, regardless of where it was purchased in the EU.
With cars, it is not always practical to bring a car back to a UK garage for repair, but the consumer centre says this can be overcome by the retailer paying a garage in Ireland to carry out the work. This arrangement is common in continental Europe, where buying cars in other jurisdictions occurs more frequently.