Singapore Expats

I recently purchased a second-hand car on the 12th of May 2015, from Auto Energy and within a few days of driving, I noticed there was a problem with the automatic transmission not engaging after putting in Drive when the car starts in the morning. This was never highlighted to me during the purchase.

I then sent the car to the warranted workshop to be inspected. The workshop charged me $400 to replace the engine oil, oil filter, ATF and gearbox flush to rectify the problem.

A few days after collecting the car, the transmission issue resurfaced and I brought the car back to the warranted workshop. They did a few checks and they told me they had to take the car in for a week, apparently to overhaul the gearbox.

During the entire period the car was in the workshop, neither the workshop nor Auto Energy offered a courtesy replacement car and when requested for a rental car from the workshop and the dealer; I was told to "rent at your own cost"! Fine I was okay to live a week commuting on taxi/public transport...All the while paying for season parking both at home and in office.

When I collected the car back after a week; I was charged $256 for the replacement of the Automatic Transmission Fluid! The overhaul for the gearbox was FOC since it was under the one year warranty period. The workshop said the car needed to be 'warmed up' for 10-15 minutes before driving. However, after driving again for two weeks, the transmission problems resurfaced, this time the car could not even engage into drive after 'warming up' the car....

I then brought the car back into the workshop for the third time in a month and they said I would have to leave the car in the workshop for another week or more. Again no replacement/courtesy car was offered and was told to contact the dealer to make arrangements.

I contacted Alan from Auto Energy and was told over the phone that he would provide me with a replacement car the following day. The next day when I attempted contacting Alan for the replacement car he was suddenly uncontactable and there were no replies to the many calls and sms sent that day.

The day after, I then decided to go down to the office to voice my grievances in hopes I would at the very least be provided a replacement car during the remaining period my time was in the workshop. To my horror, the -once friendly- salesman Alan had the audacity to tell me that I had 'signed' his contract to state that at the point of sale there were no defects to the car and that I will not be compensated in any way for my loss...or rather 'too bad'!

He then arrogantly stated that this was not his first time handling a customer's vehicles that had pre-existing issues that came back to him to complain and if i wasn't happy, I could go ahead and sue him! He claims to have handled many such cases before and the buyer has always lost...

Thus I have accepted his challenge and have submitted a claim for a full refund or restitution under the lemon law's consumer protection act and I'm awaiting the outcome of the case.

Purchasing the second hand car from Auto Energy is by far the worst consumer experience I have faced and will advise all second-hand car buyers to stay well away from this shady dealer....

josht wrote: I have faced and will advise all second-hand car buyers to stay well away from this shady dealer....

New in Singapore?

You didn't tell him about the lemon law ?

And aren't almost all car dealers shady? :roll:

well he laughed when I mentioned I was covered under the lemon law for defects within a 6 month period...

He said "go ahead and sue me! I've been in business for a very long and I've handled many complaints like this..."

I've taken ownership of the car for about 8 weeks, of which one third of the time the car is in the workshop!!

josht wrote:well he laughed when I mentioned I was covered under the lemon law for defects within a 6 month period...

He said "go ahead and sue me! I've been in business for a very long and I've handled many complaints like this..."

I've taken ownership of the car for about 8 weeks, of which one third of the time the car is in the workshop!!

And you didn't consult CASE ?

People like him thrive because his victims don't bite back ...

quite common here where car dealer provide this kind of shitty aftersales service
looks like a major transmission problem...don't mind sharing what's the car make/ model?

ya, there are other realiable car dealer that provide good customer service espeically to the expats. i can recommend if you needed.

you should have leased a car instead! In Singapore it's really expensive to purchase a car.

pasmescall wrote:you should have leased a car instead! In Singapore it's really expensive to purchase a car.

Leasing a car is pretty expensive too. Not really a viable option too. If you were to check the latest rental rates, a basic decent car model starts from $1500/mth onwards.

menudown wrote:quite common here where car dealer provide this kind of shitty aftersales service
looks like a major transmission problem...don't mind sharing what's the car make/ model?

It is most probably a continental car.

do you mind sharing what's the car make/ model?

sorry for the late update. Managed to file a claim at small claims tribunal for damages under the Lemon Law's consumers protection act.

Claimed a substantial amount as a discounted sale price for the repair cost and lost of use of vehicle. My car is with another trustworthy workshop, KATC undergoing the gearbox repairs...

@madday5, the car is a Opel Astra 1.8 Twintop..

josht wrote:sorry for the late update. Managed to file a claim at small claims tribunal for damages under the Lemon Law's consumers protection act.

Claimed a substantial amount as a discounted sale price for the repair cost and lost of use of vehicle. My car is with another trustworthy workshop, KATC undergoing the gearbox repairs...

@madday5, the car is a Opel Astra 1.8 Twintop..

Opel has such a bad reputation in Singapore that you hardly see any Opel on the roads anymore. They are notorious for their gearbox issues. Another big issue is the lack of spare parts because the stockists no longer keep enough spare parts since there aren't enough Opel on the roads to justify it. Once you are involved in an accident, the insurers will be most reluctant to compensate you for your loss of use since most of that time was spent waiting for spare parts to be air flown in rather than actually repairs being done to the car.

I bought a car from a company called expat cars (or something like that) and they sold me a lemon before the lemon law was out and treated me like absolute sh1t! I'd avoid expat only companies all together frankly, overpriced snake oil salesmen!


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