We bought a 2nd hand Mitsubishi 380 from Cranbourne Holden Motors in Cranbourne, Victoria Australia in Nov 2008.

Just last week, we had a flat and my eldest put on the spare tyre to find it was the wrong size. So Wrong in fact that when he tried to move the car the wheel scrapped on the calipers on the disk brake which caused it to lock up and skid.

When we got the flat tyre repaired, we were informed that this is a common practice to throw any wheel in as a spare, if it’s going to fit the car or not.

On ringing Cranbourne Holden, I was informed that the law just required there to be “a wheel” as the spare and it not’s checked to see if it’s suitable or not. What do they have Roadworthy certificates again for?

What were the Signs?

Well it’s not surprising this has happened as it took us ages to get the “Log Books” which mysteriously got lost. We got new ones. The old ones had vanished! We never sited the roadworthy certificate which now, would appear that there was never one performed.

Their response.

So I’ve rung them regarding the “Incorrect Spare” issue to be told that my name is on their Database but it shows I’ve never purchased a car from them, ever. I’d have to find the salesmans name and then they could find it. Wonderful! None of the documentation I have has that information on it.

Although I must say that Jarrod and Michael where happy to help out and at least listen, although to be told that the car I had bought didn’t exist on their system and they could only track it down by the salesmans name is a bit dodgey. I gave the date. I’m sure they had so many people working there at the time it would take years to check it out.

In hindsight, yes we should have gone over everything and Insisted on the Log Books, Although we were told, don’t worry we’ll send them out. And we should have checked the Spare… The question remains, What else should we be checking.

The Moral: Be prepared to get the wool pulled over your eyes when buying a car. It’s a pity what people will do for a quick buck at the expense of any long term return. Guess who we wont be going back to…

[update] : My wife managed to get a new spare wheel and tyre for under $70 that is actually the correct size. I’m not sure how anyone would think a 15″ wheel was going to fit on a vehicle that takes 17″ wheels. But they did! Maybe it was the same guy that designed their database!

It’s all a classic example of a major “Rooster- pointing skywards”. Think about it!

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