THE Putrajaya Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court's decision in 2021 to award a company RM90,000 in damages for the loss of use of a new car.
According to reports in Free Malaysia Today, the new Volkswagen Polo Sedan 1.6 was purchased from a continental car distributor which later turned out to be defective.
The court said the point of law raised by FA Wagen could not be accepted as it was not canvassed by the parties in the courts below.
FA Wagen had sought to raise the issue of whether the purchaser - Poratha Corporation Sdn Bhd could reject the car after repairs were carried out and it was fit for delivery.
The court also ordered FA Wagen to pay Poratha RM15,000 in costs.
In 2021, Sessions court judge Mabel Sheela Muttiah said that Poratha had on the balance of probability proved its case against FA Wagen Sdn Bhd.
She allowed the plaintiff’s claim for RM1,779 as special damages and RM88,300 for the loss of use of the car and interest.
FA Wagen's appeal was dismissed by the High Court on May 6, 2021.
According to the facts of the case, on March 15, 2013, the manager of Poratha Corporation bought the Volkswagen Polo for about RM105,000 for his wife to send their children to school.
However, after taking delivery of the car a month later, there were mechanical faults and defects and as a result, the purchasers were unable to use the car from Sept 27, 2013 to March 17, 2016.
When the car was left at the defendants’ service centre for repairs, the plaintiff had to hire another car at RM200 a day from Oct 15, 2013, to March 13, 2016.
At the time, it said the car was still under warranty and the defendant was obligated to carry out the repairs and rectify the defects for the car to be roadworthy.
Based on evidence from two witnesses and also on documents, Muttiah said there were real and fundamental defects to the car and the defendant had failed to rectify them within a reasonable time.
"The plaintiff inevitably sustained losses as it had to continue paying for the car’s hire purchase instalments but was not able to use it.
"There is an implied guarantee that the goods supplied to a consumer shall be of acceptable quality under the Consumer Protection Act 1999.
"The court finds that the statutory provision of ‘acceptable quality’ and ‘fit for purpose’ is wholly applicable in this case," she said.
In a passing remark, the judge suggested that the government should look at the Lemon Law which provided a remedy for purchasers of cars and other consumer goods to compensate for products that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance. - October 1, 2024
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