A second-hand car dealer who reduced the mileage shown on two vehicles which he subsequently sold had left the purchasers with "unsaleable" cars, Thurles District Court was told yesterday.
The Director of Consumer Affairs brought an action against Michael O'Connell ( 33), Castlefogarty, Ballycahill, Thurles, Co Tipperary, on two counts of selling a motor vehicle with an incorrect mileometer reading, contrary to Section 2 (2) of the Merchandise Marks Act 1887, as amended by Section 4 (2) of the Consumer Information Act 1978.
The court was told that an inspector from the consumer affairs office discovered that the mileometer readings on two cars purchased by the defendant at Merlin Car Auctions in Ashbourne, Co Meath, in 2002, had been changed when he wrote to the people who subsequently purchased the cars from O'Connell from his sales premises at Racecourse Road, Thurles.
An Audi A4 had 95,000 miles on the clock when purchased at the auctions, but one month later, on November 17th, 2002, it was sold by Mr O'Connell with 56,000 on the mileometer. A Volkswagen Passat that had 101,694 on the clock was sold with 60,000 on the clock on December 13th, 2002, to a customer who had seen the sale advertised in Buy and Sell magazine.
Mr Michael McEneaney, an inspector with the consumer affairs office, said the defendant was known to Merlin Car Auctions as trading under MDR Cars, Thurles. When asked for records on the car sales, the defendant told witness that he did not keep records.
Mr McEneaney said it had been indicated to him that the two cars were worthless to the their present owners because they were not in a position to meet the demands of garage owners who required the truth about the history of the vehicles.
The court heard that Mr O'Connell had bank drafts prepared as compensation for the two customers. He had no previous convictions. Counsel for the Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Rosario Boyle, said they were withdrawing one of the two counts against the defendant in view of his guilty plea.
Judge Tom O'Donnell said the buyers had been "left with effectively dud and unsaleable" vehicles. He imposed a four-month jail sentence, which he suspended on condition that O'Connell be of good behaviour for two years. He was fined €500 and ordered to pay €750 in expenses.