The strongest penalties in the nation to crackdown on dodgy second-hand vehicle sellers have been passed by the Parliament of South Australia.
Changes to the Second-hand Vehicle Dealers Act 1995, that were endorsed on 14 May 2024 will also cut red tape through streamlining of the sales process. Supporting regulations will need to be developed first.
The items detailed in the Second-hand Vehicle Dealers (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2023 follow a review of the Act and feedback from industry on matters including increased penalties for unlicensed dealers and odometer tampering, a dealer’s duty to repair vehicles, recognition of electric and hybrid vehicles as well as administrative changes to forms used in the sales process.
The specific changes include:
- A 15 fold increase of the maximum penalty for odometer tampering to $150,000
- A $150,000 penalty for unlicensed dealing, up from $100,000, and more than doubling for third or subsequent offences to $250,000 or two years imprisonment (or both). The penalty for body corporates (companies) will also double to a maximum fine of half a million dollars
- A new offence for providing false and misleading statements in relation to odometers plus powers to require that altered odometers be rectified
- Including hybrid and electric vehicles’ main propulsion battery in a dealer's duty to repair within the statutory warranty period
- Supporting cost effective pricing by enabling dealers to disclose defects that won’t be subject to the duty to repair, provided that the vehicle is roadworthy
- New practicalities:
- removing the administrative burden of displaying the previous owner’s name and potentially alleviating privacy and safety concerns (still available from the dealer/auctioneer on request)
- removing the need to disclose the name and details of the last person the vehicle was leased to, if it was used as a taxi or hire car (still available from the dealer/auctioneer on request)
- allowing dealers to include additional information in a contract of sale without taking away important information for buyers
- resulting streamlining of the prescribed form for sale of a vehicle or motorcycle.
The government is retaining the statutory warranty period under the Act for cars aged less than 15 years or that have travelled less than 200,000km.
Any person must have a licence to sell motor vehicles if they buy, sell or offer for sale four or more vehicles in any 12 month period.
