Buying cars from used car dealers? becareful!

[So_nice]

Toyota Vios over swift for sure. Not sure about the current series of swift but the old ones are like..driving a motorbike.

[Watwheels]

 

http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/man-jailed-32m-used-car-scam

 

 

Photo: The Straits Times

FROM a Lexus GS300 and a Porsche Boxster to a Geely CK and a Cherry QQ, a range of cars paid for by 50 buyers between January 2013 and February last year were repossessed by finance companies.

The buyers were not aware that the second-hand cars had not been registered under their names.

 

Used-car dealer Cars Today had been running a scam and defaulted on the repayment of loans, which it had taken to buy the cars.

 

In all, the company cheated 71 buyers, 14 sellers and four finance companies into delivering it a total of $3.16 million in money and cars. The buyers and sellers lost at least $1.42 million in total.

Yesterday, the company's de facto boss Poh Chee Tiong, 62, an undischarged bankrupt, was jailed for seven years.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to 33 out of 168 charges, most of which were for cheating.

He admitted to the remaining 135 charges and these were considered in sentencing.

District Judge Salina Ishak, in her brief grounds of decision, said: "(Poh) had caused significant monetary harm and great inconvenience to his victims."

She noted, among other things, there were 89 victims in all - buyers, sellers and finance companies - and that the offences were committed over a long period of time.

"(Poh) had planned a systematic and elaborate scam to cheat the customers and creditors of Cars Today; (he) committed the offences for personal benefit as he wanted to expand Cars Today's operation and fleet of cars," the judge added.

The court heard that Poh was the sole owner of used-car dealer Car Kingdom between 2007 and 2009 but he was bankrupted in 2009.

In July 2011, he told his wife Liew Foong Lin, 46, to register Cars Today in her name.

Poh solely managed the company.

 

To get loans to buy cars, Poh would enter into flooring agreements with finance companies. Cars Today would transfer the registered ownership of a car it bought to its financier so that the finance company would have the right to repossess the car, if the dealer defaulted on its loan repayment terms.

And when the used-car dealer bought a car on credit, it was supposed to inform the finance company of the price at which it bought the car; and sell the car and repay the loan as soon as possible, lest more interest accrue.

But Poh wanted to expand Cars Today's business and fleet of cars, and also increase its cash flow.

So, unknown to its buyers, it did not transfer the ownership of cars to them after they had paid money and collected the vehicles.

In some cases, Cars Today would buy a car and sell it, and thereafter apply for a loan under a flooring agreement. It would thus get a loan and transfer the car's ownership to the finance company, instead of the buyer who had already collected it.

Cars Today also forged documents to mark up the purchase prices of cars, deceiving its financiers into giving out larger loans as a result.

Poh even roped in his son, Poh Ee, 28, then a manager at Cars Today, to do this. Between December 2013 and December 2014, Poh Ee made changes to 18 copies of sales and purchase agreements which sellers had signed, marking up prices at which the cars were bought.

Sellers were cheated into delivering their vehicles to Cars Today, thinking the company would settle their outstanding car loans. But Cars Today did not.

After delivering their cars, some sellers still had to pay road tax and insurance premiums because they were still listed as their cars' registered owners.

Poh's wife and son have been fined $3,000 and $15,000 respectively for their crimes.

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/man-jailed-32m-used-car-scam#sthash.Yq9a0k54.dpuf

 

 

This used car industry is filled with bad hats.

The badie still got the cheek to put the words "honest", "esteem" & "reliable" on his company signboard.

So what if he's an undischarged bankrupt? Use wife name to set up new company. Hero again. More ppl get con. What's wrong with what we are seeing?

Edited June 17, 2016 by Watwheels

[Lmws214]

Has anyone bought used cars from Prem Roy Motoring?

[Mahjong74]

Has anyone bought used cars from Prem Roy Motoring?

 

I did