Man Buys Secondhand Car From Bugis Dealership, Ends Up Paying S$10,000 In Repairs Within A Month

Man Buys Secondhand Car For S$30,000, Pays Another S$10,000 For Repairs

Buying a car in Singapore can be extremely pricey.

So when 48-year-old tutor Zhuo Zheng Cheng saw a secondhand Citroën for sale at a dealership at just S$30,000, he jumped at the chance to get it.

But he soon met with endless problems — within a month, he had spent close to S$10,000 on repair works for the car.

When contacted by Shin Min Daily News, the car dealership said they are willing to offer Mr Zhuo a one-time free servicing if the car is inspected by an authorised workshop and no additional damage is found.

Forks out about S$10,000 on repairs for secondhand car

Mr Zhuo had purchased the secondhand Citroën from a car dealership at Jalan Sultan back in September. At S$30,000, he thought he was getting it at a steal.

However, in less than a week, the fault signal on the dashboard started flashing repeatedly. He then paid S$300 to clean the filter of the diesel engine.

Days later, water seeped into the front of the car due to a problem with the rubber seal.

A week later, he had to fork out more money to fix an air-conditioning issue, reported Shin Min Daily News.

When Mr Zhuo sent the car for an inspection, he was told that the pipes, brakes, and several other parts had a lot of problems.

It was a massive fix-up that cost him about S$4,000.

In early October, he drove up to Malacca, Malaysia with his wife. Shortly after passing the Second Link, the fault signal began flashing on the dashb0ard once again.

When he examined the car, he found that the water in the engine coolant had dried up.

Worried that this might cause more problems, the couple scrapped their road trip plans and returned home.

Car mileage had been tampered with

Mr Zhuo told Shin Min Daily News that when he bought the secondhand car, the dealership told him the vehicle was seven years old and the mileage clocked was about 100,000km.

But during an inspection at a car workshop, they found that on 1 Aug 2022, the mileage on the car stated 225,702km.

This was subsequently changed to display 108,361km.

Furthermore, the workshop found that the car’s clutch had been replaced previously. This usually needs to be done when the mileage exceeds 160,000km.

These discoveries made Mr Zhuo suspect that the odometer had been tampered with before his purchase.

Following that, he reached out to the dealership where he bought his car and asked them to foot some of the maintenance costs.

To date, the dealership has not acceded to his request. Mr Zhuo is now considering other avenues to seek compensation.

Dealership willing to share costs if car is inspected at authorised workshop

When contacted by Shin Min Daily News, a salesperson from the Jalan Sultan car dealership, Mr Su, denied that the vehicle was tampered with.

The 45-year-old explained that the dealership has been in operation for more than 10 years and has over 100 cars in its fleet.

“There’s no way we would do such a thing just to earn a little bit more,” he said.

Mr Su said he is unclear why the odometer mileage was changed. When the dealership bought the car from its previous owner, the odometer already displayed about 100,000km.

It was based on this number that the dealership listed the car.

Mr Su also explained that the dealership was not willing to share the maintenance cost as Mr Zhuo had allegedly sent the Citroën to an unauthorised workshop for repairs. Because of this, the warranty was voided.

However, he said the dealership is willing to grant Mr Zhuo a complimentary servicing session if the car is inspected at an authorised workshop and no further damage is found.

But if this isn’t the case, then Mr Zhuo will have to pay half the servicing fee.

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Autodeal, for illustration purposes only.