Kent Motors ****med me by selling me a written off car.

I bought a car from Kent Motors Durban in 26 March 2020 which was meant to be happy day for me. The car gave me issues from day one (but i couldn't return it since it was lockdown), the dealer asked to sort out everything if I allow them to (level 4 lockdown). Mind you i wasn't even allowed to test drive the car as i was told its a performance car. I trusted the dealership as their a big dealership in KZN, car kept on having issues every 3/4 months or so. 1. Car overheated on the very first day and went to limp mode, i wanted to go home with car but i could not. 2. Traction control would turn on for no reason 3. Rain sensors wouldn't work. 4. Wheel Bearing issue. 5. Petrol Pump and injectors failed. 6. Car overheated damaging the piston and engine block again. After sorting out these expensive repairs mostly at own pocket i decided to sell the car in August 2022, i had planned to keep the car till 2027. I decided to sell the car to We Buy Cars who gave me a very good offer. The guys at we buy cars where able to see that the car was in serious accident as the dashboard was showing signs of unevenness, and dashboard isn’t even from the manufacturer (not from Ford). So they said they don’t buy cars where airbags have deployed at we buy cars, i was devastated when i heard this and in disbelief. Now dealer never disclosed to me that the car was in an accident. So I did some research and found that the car was owned by the Telesure group (Insurance Group) and i was able to obtain pictures of the car where i saw the extend of the damage, all front airbags deployed. Dealer is saying that they were not aware of the damage put I don’t think it’s true as We Buy Cars was able to see this issue within a few minutes in the car. I have been corned by Kent Motors, sold a code 3 vehicle as a code 2 car, dealer made money through the sale of this car and i am still making a loss even today (I was sold a Horrible at a premium cost). It made sense why the car kept on having serious every 3/4 months cause it was written off before. I called Kent Motors to inform them of the findings from We Buy Cars, they said i should bring back the car, when i was returning the car to Kent Motors the piston from cylinder one broke. So they said they will gladly take the car back if i fix the engine, in which they quoted me R99k which includes new turbo's, new engine block, thermostat, oil and water pump etc, basically a new engine. When they repaired my car in 2020 they never gave me a new turbo, new oil and water pump, new thermostat i just got a new engine block. Now my issue is, We Buy Cars was able to pick up this problem within a few minutes of being in the car and the dashboard is exactly how it was when i bought, how come a big dealership like Kent Motors not be able to pick this issue out? I was also able to do my research on the car which took me half a day and got pictures of the car including Telesure owning the car. I hope who ever reads this review informs their friends and family members on Kent Motors, they have made my first car experience a horrible and very expensive one. I have been paying for this car for the last 3 years, a car that was not even meant to be on the road.

Yes when i first purchased the car within less than 10km of driving it i had a "service now , engine malfunction" , like i said i could not return it as it was lockdown and shops closed early. When the lockdown restrictions were lowered the dealership did offer to cancel the deal of the vehicle or give me a new motor on the car. I agreed to to the new motor which is one of my biggest regrets till today, cause i had known the car was written off i would have never agreed to that.

Now they did say they will take the car back if i fix it for R99k, i have lost so much on this car and they want another R99k from me, my settlement at the time was R99k.

They also claim that they were not aware that the car was in a serious accident, but it took We Buy Cars literally less than 10min to see the problem, and they claim to be a big dealership here in Durban yet can not even identify serious defects from a car.

This car did not pass the quality checks at Apline Comercial Vehicles yet it did pass at Kent Motors. How is that?

So i have done close to 31 000km with the car in 3yrs of owning it which should've been more as i am from the Eastern Cape and travel home a lot from KZN.

Kent Motors said they purchased the vehicle from a big dealership here in KZN and sold it to me. Now i managed to get papers with the previous owners on it. Kent Motors purchased this vehicle from Pine Used Vehicle who have now closed down.

Pine Used Vehicles was a subsidy of Alpine Commercial Vehicles, I went to Alpine Commercial Vehicles and i was informed that the car did not pass their quality checks and was moved to Pine Used Vehicles who only sell defective vehicles. Now i wonder how many vehicles Kent Motors has bought from Alpine Commercial Vehicles and sold to their customers.

I had reported Kent Motors to the Ombudsman's and Wesbank, but my vehicle was still at their garage with the engine stripped so i did not want to risk paying for storage fees and further damage to my car so i withdrew.

I will be posting my experience with this dealership on all social media platforms in the next coming weeks, i want others to know how they did me wrong and hopefully make better decisions than me.

Now Kent Motors is acting as if they have tried to help with the vehicle when I am the only one who taken a great financial loss.

From all the cases i have read where a customer has bought a written off car the dealerships have never taken responsibility. I had trusted Kent Motors to do due diligence on this car so that it sells their clients good quality vehicles and not written off cars. The dashboard from my car does not even belong to a Ford. This car has cost me so much in my life that its one of the worsts mistakes i have ever made.

Total costs I have spent on the car.

1st costs repair R15 800 (Warranty paid R6 500) I paid R8 750

2rd repair cost R4 180 (broken boost solenoid, boost sensor)

3rd repair costs R18 112 to repair overheating problem

4th repair is costing me R15 800

The car was meant to be sold in August 2022; I have been paying for it since then at R4100 a month for the last 9 months. This brings the total out of my own pocket to R83 742.