Nearly Bought my First EV – Glad I Didn’t!

I’ve never bought a new car before. After this close call, I never will!

I’ve been driving a Toyota Prius Hybrid for 14 years. Loved every minute of it – mostly. But the time finally came when it made sense both economically and environmentally to switch to an EV.

I did my sums and estimated my needs and settled on a Mazda MX-30 – ‘the pragmatic EV’. So called because it has an appropriately sized battery and range for the average European commuter – about 200 klms. Therefore it’s quicker to recharge (30 minutes at a fast charge station). I’m not into long road trips and my camping days of sleeping in the Prius are numbered. I live quite a European lifestyle in metropolitan Brisbane. The MX-30 is a compact SUV hatch with suicide ‘freedom’ doors. I’ll cut my driving consumption emissions to zero because my home provider is renewable-sourced (and if I can rely on renewable sourced-charging stations). I’ll cut my motor vehicle power costs by at least a third.

I found two MX-30’s at a dealership in the Gold Coast called Frizelle. Both were 2021 (3 years old) with just 2,500 klms on the clock and demo cars, except one was in the used car dealership because it had actually been sold to someone who promptly changed their fickle mind, if they had a mind at all. What was Frizelle thinking, selling a commuter car in Noosa? Probably as little as the buyer. The agent was very unhelpful and I don’t mean in a hard-sell way; he didn’t know much about the car and didn’t seem to care to know.

I test drove it, tried to screw a little more blood (information) out of the stoney agent, then went to the new car section up the road and test drove that one.

The agent was much more helpful, but the car had an electronic gliche. “Oh it’s just because the chip hasn’t been put in in.” “Fair enough,” I said, “fine, but the ‘used car’ is $2,000 less, so I’ll go back there.” Oh-oh. The price fell. Okay, why not buy my first ever new car at such a good price (almost half the brand new price) and avoid the unhelpful agent?

As we went through the paperwork, I said, “There’s a cooling-off period of 24 hours, isn’t there?”

“Yes Mr Cole. If you change your mind we’ll give your ($1,000) deposit back.”

I signed. They then tried to sign me up to $2,200 of cleaning and waxing “so you’ll never had to clean it again”.

I went home and thought it over. A three year-old demo car with a tech glitch? Something’s wrong. I’m not keen on black and white, either – looks like a tradie car to me. I called back the next day and cancelled the purchase. I followed up with an email with all the details, noting the time was within 24 hours of paying the deposit.

I then called the used car dealership, asking not to be put through to the unhelpful agent because I didn’t ‘want to do business with him’. He called on one of Frizelle’s multiple numbers that I couldn’t recognize for sure. I don’t answer unsolicited calls nowadays because there are so many scammers trying to get through to me. Finally he sent a text. That I can respond to. I called, wondering if my complaint against him had had an impact. It did. He was helpful this time. We organized a contract remotely. All good except for the ‘delivery’ clause that gave the dealership carte-blanche to do as they like. I added a pay-by-deadline for me (next business day) and delivery deadline for them (48 hours), initialled [sic] it, sent it and told him to initial and return it. He did!

Two days later the new car dealership still hadn’t responded. I called but couldn’t get through the maize of lines and branches to anyone who would pick up in a reasonable time. I called four days later and ‘my’ agent was still unavailable. I sent another email.

I noticed the used car purchase contract T&Cs stated there is no cooling off period for new cars. I checked online. It’s true. The agent had lied to me. Then I realized no copy of the T&Cs was included with the contract. If they had, I would have noticed the cooling-off period rule. I might then also have noticed that they hadn’t actually signed the contract, either!

I told the used car dealer the other branch had stolen $1,000 from me and weren’t returning it. I considered with-holding the same amount from them until they sorted out the return of my deposit with their new car branch, but I didn’t want to render the contract I had with them null and void by violating the delivery clause I’d added. So I made the final payment within the agreed time. The agent promised to sort out the deposit, saying “it might come up as an over payment we can refund”.

Over the next two days I got calls from a number in Southport, but it didn’t leave a voice mail. I wasn’t going to call to try and get through the maize to find out who it was. Finally I got a voice mail. It was the manager of the new car dealership. Two more days of phone tagging and I got him on the phone. He thought I was all ready to go and pick up my new car!! He didn’t know anything about the past week of calls and emails. I explained the situation and he indicated he would see if the ‘deposit’ would be returned.

A few days later the money still wasn’t in my bank account. I went and picked the ‘used’ car up.

Then I stopped by the new dealership to speak to the manager, ready to tell him that if the money wasn’t returned promptly, I’d report it stolen to the police. Thankfully, he asked for my bank details (which I’d already given).

It seems Frizelle and Mazda may have something in common: