Court orders woman to pay S$20,000 for mileage discrepancy of Lamborghini she sold to car dealership
A Singapore woman who sold her Lamborghini Urus to a car dealership for S$908,000 ended up in a legal tussle after the dealer claimed the luxury SUV had far higher mileage than advertised.
Purpose Automobiles said they bought the Urus believing it had 9,000km on the odometer, only to later discover through diagnostic checks that it had actually clocked 18,074km.
The dealership alleged the discrepancy caused them to lose a S$965,000 resale deal and sought S$145,500 in damages from the seller, Ms Virginia Wong, and her husband.
Source: Lamborghini website
But the court saw things very differently.
Lost sale wasn’t caused by mileage: Judge
On Monday (17 Nov), District Judge Sim Mei Ling ruled that Ms Wong’s breach did not cause the collapse of the resale deal.
The judge found that the prospective buyer did not walk away because of the higher mileage.
Instead, the buyer withdrew after the authorised dealer voided the car’s warranty, having concluded the odometer had been altered. This made the super-SUV far riskier to purchase.
Purpose Automobiles eventually sold the Urus for S$800,000, plus S$19,500 in financing commission.
Source: Google Maps, for illustrative purposes only
Judge Sim stressed that Ms Wong could only be held liable for losses directly linked to her breach, that is, the value difference between a 9,000km vehicle and an 18,074km one.
“There was no evidence before me as to the cause of the mileage discrepancy and whether [Ms Wong] had tampered with the odometer,” she noted, adding that the existence of a valid warranty was not a term of the sale agreement.
Expert says difference was only about S$20,000
Expert valuer Mr Wu Chong, director of All Motoring, testified that the depreciation gap for a 1.5-year-old Urus with such mileage was around S$20,000, as the SUV remained a low-mileage car by market standards.
The judge accepted his assessment over the dealership’s S$45,000 estimate, noting that Purpose Automobiles had presented no supporting documents for their valuation, whereas Mr Wu had.
Ms Wong was therefore ordered to pay S$20,000, plus interest, far below the six-figure sum the dealership originally sought.
Source: Google Maps, for illustrative purposes only
While the warranty voiding caused the bigger financial hit, the court held that this consequence did not flow directly from Ms Wong’s breach.
Meanwhile, the judgment against Ms Wong’s husband, Mr Lim Wei Meng — the car’s main driver — remains on hold pending the damages assessment.
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Featured image adapted from the Lamborghini website and MS News. Image on the left for illustrative purposes only.
