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Car dealer’s customers join forces after failing to contact boss

SINGAPORE — Ninety disgruntled customers seeking refunds for the deposits they had paid to parallel car importer Volks Auto banded together yesterday to consolidate their police reports and sales agreements, which they plan to present to the authorities soon.

Volks Auto showroom. Photo: Don Wong

Volks Auto showroom. Photo: Don Wong

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SINGAPORE — Ninety disgruntled customers seeking refunds for the deposits they had paid to parallel car importer Volks Auto banded together yesterday to consolidate their police reports and sales agreements, which they plan to present to the authorities soon.

The group had paid the car dealership, which reportedly ceased operations on Saturday, downpayments totalling more than S$2.7 million for their cars. Each of them had paid a deposit of between S$12,500 and S$163,000.

Attempts by the victims — whose plight was reported by The Straits Times earlier this week — to contact Volks Auto’s director Alvin Loo have been unsuccessful.

One of the victims, Mr K K Lo, initiated the meeting of the group yesterday at a McDonald’s outlet in Kallang. The 53-year-old had paid about S$20,000 in August for a Honda Fit, which was to be delivered this month.

He said his suspicions were aroused late last month when Mr Loo could not produce any documentation for his new car, despite having claimed that it had arrived.

“Other parallel importers … are able to produce documentation when a car arrives in Singapore or (is) awaiting inspection,” Mr Lo said, adding that some of the other victims had spent months or years saving up for their new cars. He believes more victims have yet to come forward.

Another car buyer, who wanted to be known only as Mr Koo, said a Volks Auto salesperson named Andrew had telephoned him to say he was quite confident Mr Loo would return to settle the issue. “Until today, he (Andrew) has also never admitted there is something wrong with the company,” said the 29-year-old product manager.

According to Mr Lo, Volks Auto’s director was still responding to SMSes last week. In one of them, Mr Loo had told one of the customers that he had some “customs problem in China and Hong Kong”, said Mr Lo.

Other parallel importers TODAY spoke to said the prices offered by Volks Auto were too good to be true.

“The prices they sell (at) are ridiculously cheap … and below cost price,” said SG Vehicles director Mark Poh. Many of his customers who had been attracted by Volks Auto’s low prices had bought cars from it and “got stuck”, he added.

Autopoint director Sam Sim said customers should be wary of parallel importers who sell cars at excessively low prices. “Future customers (who) want to buy … should look at the sgCarMart.com price to get the average. Never believe in super-low prices.”

When asked whether it had received such complaints in the past, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) said it had received similar complaints against used-car dealers Galaxy Carz and KS Automobile last year, but did not cite cases involving parallel importers.

“The complaints pertained mainly to consumers not getting their cars despite having made payments,” said CASE executive director Seah Seng Choon, adding that some of these consumers had since received monetary settlements.

Noting that CASE had received 16 complaints against Volks Auto as of 3.30pm yesterday, Mr Seah advised affected consumers to lodge complaints with the Small Claims Tribunals as soon as possible while the company is still in existence.

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