Prosecution - Mr Patrick Doyle
On 5 August 2020, a consumer purchased a 2011 Ford Fiesta, registration number 11-D-54622 from Byrnes Garage, trading at Tinnock, Gorey, Co Wexford.
The vehicle had been previously crashed but the consumer was not informed by the salesperson Mr Patrick Doyle at the time of the transaction. The Consumer Protection Act 2007 provides that it is a misleading commercial practice offence to provide false information in relation to the usage or prior history of a vehicle if the information would likely cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make. It is also a misleading commercial practice offence to engage in a practice likely to cause the average consumer to be deceived or misled in relation to the usage or prior history of a vehicle if that practice is likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make.
During the transaction, the consumer asked Mr Patrick Doyle, if the vehicle had ever been crashed. Mr Doyle replied that it had not been crashed and handed a vehicle history check printout to the consumer that he had taken out of the glovebox. The vehicle history report did not give a damage alert for the vehicle. However, the vehicle had been imported from the UK in 2017 and a history check had only been conducted on the Irish registration, 11-D-54622. A history check on the UK registration, EJ11GXS was not conducted by the trader, even though the fact it was imported was listed on the front page of the vehicle history check. A history check on EJ11GXS would have given the trader a damage alert that on 8 September 2016 an insurance company categorised the vehicle as a Category D Insurance Loss. That information would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make. It is an offence under section 47 of the Consumer Protection Act (“CPA”) for a trader to engage is a misleading commercial practice described in section 43 (1) and 43(2) and set out in section 43(3)(b)(vii) of the CPA.
Mr Doyle plead guilty to the offence at hearing. Judge Cheatle imposed s.1(1)(i) of the Probation Act 1907 (which means that the offence is proved but the Court does not proceed to punishment or conviction). He agreed to allow Mr Doyle to pay his €1,000 costs contribution over a 2-year period.
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