Odometer misrepresentations drive unlicensed motor dealer to court

Source: Office of Fair Trading Qld -

3/02/2022

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has taken an Upper Mount Gravatt man to court for unlicensed motor dealing and for misrepresenting the history of a number of vehicles, including the vehicles’ odometer readings, when selling them to unsuspecting consumers.

Ahmed Khalil was fined $15,000 in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court (2 February 2022) for making false and misleading representations about the history of motor vehicles and acting as a motor dealer without the appropriate licence.

The court heard that between January and March 2019, Mr Khalil acquired 23 vehicles from auctions while pretending to be a licenced motor dealer, after failing to notify the auction house that his motor dealer’s license had in fact expired.

Mr Khalil’s motor dealer licence had expired in November 2015.

The court heard Mr Khalil sold four vehicles which had their odometers wound back by a total of 839,660 kilometres. He made a profit of between $2,000 and $5,400 on each vehicle.

Magistrate Michael O’Driscoll took into consideration Mr Khalil’s personal circumstances and history. No conviction was recorded but the magistrate warned Mr Khalil that these are serious offences and if he re-offends, the court may not be as lenient.