Statutory Warranty on "Auctioned" cars.

[Crazy Dazz]

As those in the West would know, when a licensed dealer sells a car, there is a statutory warranty (usually 3 months) on qualifying cars. It’s actually pretty good in that it covers all major mechanicals that affect roadworthiness. Whilst it doesn’t cover brakes & tyres for the 3 months, they are required to be roadworthy when sold.

XXX is a major vehicle auction house in Perth. They ARE a licensed dealer. They offer most of their cars via auction, although many have a “buy now” price or are only offered on that basis.
In my case, my high bid was referred to the vendor, who then came back with a slightly higher price (that I'm happy with.)

The vehicle is a passenger vehicle (a repo) that would qualify for the warranty. The advertisement specifically states that they are a licensed dealer, and the vehicle was displayed with a “dealer slip.”

However XXX have now told me that there is no statutory warranty “because the cars came from a finance company.” Does anybody know if this is legit?

Don’t get me wrong, I can understand their point of view. They sell vehicles at auction at what are often not predetermined prices. They keep their fee and pass the money back to the previous owner. They don’t want to be involved in withholding amounts for warranty, etc.

BUT, I don’t understand how this is not a gigantic loophole? There are several smaller dealers around town that conduct “auctions.” The cars are available for sale at any time, and if not sold go in the weekly auction. If they don’t meet reserve, they go back on the lot for sale. So can they avoid providing the warranty? If so, why haven’t all the dodgy dealers cottoned on to this trick?

IF they legally don’t have to provide the warranty, then I am highly suspicious that the whole auction was a giant rort. There were over 200 cars for sale, and of those only a small fraction were actually knocked down (maybe 30 TOPS.) The overwhelming majority were, like mine, “referred.” So there you have a case of the best offer being presented to the vendor, the vendor nominating a price which the purchaser can accept or walk away. Not sure how that differs from an ordinary sale?