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Police raid Edward Lees and three other importers for odo tampering. About bloody time too ! Parramatta Road... hmmm...

If you missed the news a couple of weeks back, here's the video and more details:

Prestige Motorsport

https://www.facebook.com/PrestigeMotorsportAust/videos/1107318409290351/

If you're buying a Japanese import, the GOLDEN RULE is to make sure you get the original copy of the export certificate either as the first importer by importing direct, or a copy of this independently for only $50 if you're buying local. Can save you a lot of headaches (not to mention $$).

Unfortunately it's not only odo tampering that's been rife with dealers for years, but plenty of accident damaged vehicles that should not pass SEVS criteria have been coming in as well.

Well seriously, what do you think is going to happen when the SEVS regulations allow a dealer to comply their own vehicles, particularly in a struggling economy ? With that sort of conflict of interest, no independent checking system in place for damage or kms, and limited ability for authorities to hold dealers to account for their actions, it's no wonder imports to Australia have developed a bad reputation and lost all trust over the years.

Allow it to continue long enough and you're basically left with only the dealers who bend the rules to their own advantage and to the detriment of the consumer, as no one who does it properly can compete on price.

This is something that MUST change with the new import scheme (http://prestigemotorsport.com.au/faqs/vehicle-import-regulation-changes/) to eliminate poor condition and false km imports, and restore imports to where they should be in the public mind -- top quality, high optioned vehicles for very good prices.

We don't see any reason to stop cars with incorrect mileage from coming into Australia (as NZ does), but there should be a public accessible database linked to the VIN which shows the important export certificate information and original auction sheet where available. There are plenty of legitimately repaired odometer cars available which come with dealer records showing when they were repaired and this is shown on auction sheets. These are often quite a bit cheaper as a result and can still have relatively low kms. Providing the consumer knows exactly what they are buying, they can decide whether they want to buy or not and a fair price.

The Govt. will be holding a meeting in Canberra on 31 March 2016 with stakeholders to discuss the details of the upcoming import regulation changes.

post-115326-0-37490400-1457054719_thumb.jpg

I have bought a few imports from Lee's over a long period , all were sold as low KLM cars, drove them and except for the R34GTR (final tune needed after run in) I thought they were all pretty good and thinking the odo had been tweaked but was happy with the overall condition of the cars. I was told the R34 had 17,000 klm on it , I said yeah 17k for each wheel and maybe the spare but the car/s were very clean.

As far as the bullshit these blokes get away with, it should not be allowed and should be stopped ASAP.

I did take E Lee to NCAT and won on a different problem.

It is great to get as much info out there to help blokes buying imports :yes:

PS , I could not open the Video, but will try on my PC later

Remember the aussie movie "The Big Steal" dodgy car yard who swap the Jag motor in Daniels car- dealer later gets caught driving drunk wearing women's lingerie - thats him! ;)

  • Like 1

RB's can do a shitload of km's and still run well, can remember looking at a 200k old VL turbo years ago and thinking it was like a new engine, could of wound it back to 100k and id of believed it... i'm sure every dealer winds the k's back anyway...

Can't anymore, a ppsr report shows the odometer reading from every time the car has been sold in its history and obviously if it got sold in 2015 with 300,000kms and youre about to buy it now with 150,000 there is something wrong

Can't anymore, a ppsr report shows the odometer reading from every time the car has been sold in its history and obviously if it got sold in 2015 with 300,000kms and youre about to buy it now with 150,000 there is something wrong

...since when?! This is news to me!

If so, bloody brilliant :D

  • 2 weeks later...

Everybody who has bought a rewound car back from him should be entitled to compensation. When is this guy getting sued and have any charges been laid?

It does also have to be said you guys the buyers are also driving people like Edward Lees to flourish, with pushing values of imports down people won't want to pay much but still want good cars, so Edward Lee provides a a market for people to buy freshly imported cars locally from him.

  • Like 1

Can't anymore, a ppsr report shows the odometer reading from every time the car has been sold in its history and obviously if it got sold in 2015 with 300,000kms and youre about to buy it now with 150,000 there is something wrong

Ppsr reports can show it if you pay extra and the RMS do it aswell.. on every e saftey check (pink slip) you have to fill out the klms and if they dont match up they make enquireys.. im a car salesman and a mechanic forgot to get the klm off the car when lodging it online so he guessed it.. unlucky for the mechanic cause the car wasnt registered for 4-5 years and the klm were 400 od klm less then when it was last registered and when it was registered at the RMS my work had to explain them selfs.. the mechanic got a warning for it

Edited by donburtron

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