JOHANNESBURG– Second-hand car buyers in South Africa are being warned to tread carefully as a wave of fraud and misrepresentation cases continues to plague private vehicle sales, with legal experts and industry bodies urging tighter regulation.
Buyers seeking bargains in the used car market are increasingly falling victim to dishonest sellers who hide accident damage and other defects. This has led to several court cases challenging the traditional protection offered by the “voetstoots” clause — a legal term meaning “sold as is.”
The clause, commonly included in private sale agreements, protects sellers from being sued over defects discovered after a sale. However, courts are now ruling that this protection falls away when there is deliberate dishonesty or fraud involved.
In one recent case flagged by Johannesburg-based law firm Wright Rose-Innes, a vehicle was sold as “accident-free” with a “full-service record” — claims that later turned out to be false. The buyer, after uncovering significant hidden damage and prior collision history, approached the court to cancel the oral sale agreement. The court ruled in the buyer’s favour, ordering restitution.
Legal professionals say this ruling sends a clear message: sellers who knowingly misrepresent a vehicle’s condition can no longer hide behind the voetstoots clause.
For Eswatini nationals eyeing South African used cars due to lower prices and wider selection, the warning could not come at a better time. Many local importers rely on listings from South Africa’s online marketplaces, where such fraud is harder to detect without physical inspection.
According to the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (Sambra), fraudulent activity is being fuelled by gaps in legislation and inspection standards. Juan Hanekom, Sambra’s national director, explained that current roadworthy inspections only cover visible damage, allowing poorly repaired or written-off vehicles to slip through unnoticed.
He said many of these vehicles are registered as Code 2 (used cars) in the government’s eNaTIS system, even though they were previously written off by insurers. These vehicles, often declared uneconomical to repair, are refurbished and sold to unsuspecting buyers on digital platforms — including cross-border markets like Eswatini.
To counter this, Sambra is calling on the South African government to establish a full vehicle salvage database that integrates with the national registration system. The group also wants revised vehicle classification codes based on damage severity. Their proposal includes:
- Code A: Irreparable, must be crushed
- Code B: Non-repairable but with salvageable parts
- Code N: Non-structural damage, repairable
While the South African Insurance Association introduced a VIN-based tool in 2023 for consumers to check a vehicle’s history, Sambra says the platform is limited in scope and does not provide full protection.
“The infrastructure already exists — we just need the legislation,” Sambra said.
The lack of comprehensive checks and accountability continues to leave thousands of used car buyers vulnerable, especially those purchasing across borders where legal recourse is limited.
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