{"id":900275,"date":"2026-09-21T16:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900275\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T16:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:36:17","slug":"ozcar-major-used-car-dealer-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900275\/","title":{"rendered":"OzCar: Major used car dealer under fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Melbourne<\/a> couple Shaz and Daz bought a used MG as an engagement present, they believed they were dealing with one of Australia\u2019s<\/a> most reputable national used car networks.<\/p>\n

Instead, they found themselves locked in a multi-year nightmare involving a malfunctioning vehicle, aggressive debt collection, and a car that vanished altogether after being towed by the dealer.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

When Melbourne couple Shaz and Daz bought a used MG as an engagement present, they believed they were dealing with one of Australia\u2019s most reputable national used car networks.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

OzCar markets itself heavily on TV as a trusted supplier of “quality used cars that are as good as new”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Company co-owner Brett Dale frequently stars in advertisements promising customer<\/a> satisfaction, roadside assistance, and money-back guarantees.<\/p>\n

However, a growing trail of aggrieved buyers, consumer regulators, and financial advocates tells a starkly different story.<\/p>\n

For Shaz and Daz, the engagement present quickly soured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After obtaining $22,990 in finance<\/a> through OzCar, the MG went into \u201climp mode\u201d on the freeway shortly after purchase, failing to accelerate.<\/p>\n

“We had the car for about 18 months, but in that total time… we had it in the driveway for four days,” Shaz said.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

After obtaining $22,990 in finance through OzCar, the MG went into \u201climp mode\u201d on the freeway shortly after purchase, failing to accelerate.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

When the vehicle broke down a second time, OzCar towed the car away for repairs \u2014 and the couple never saw it again.<\/p>\n

“They were trying to tell us that nothing was wrong with it,” Shaz recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But we never saw the car again.”<\/p>\n

When the couple later checked the OzCar dealership in Melbourne’s Cranbourne, the yard sat completely empty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following advice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC<\/a>) and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA<\/a>), the couple paused their loan repayments while the vehicle was unaccounted for.<\/p>\n

That decision triggered relentless pressure from debt collection agencies.<\/p>\n

“The debt collectors were ringing daily \u2014 some days two, three, four phone calls, a couple of days up to eight phone calls,” Shaz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Absolutely harassing us for money that we haven’t got for them.”<\/p>\n

The missing MG was eventually sold at auction by the financier for just $5000 following the defaulted loan payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daz says the compound stress severely impacted his health.<\/p>\n

“It’s affecting my mental health, my wife’s mental health,” Daz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think the stress really caused the stroke. I can’t keep down a full-time job, I can’t concentrate, I can’t work, I can’t sleep.”<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

When confronted outside his $30 million waterfront property in Sydney\u2019s Vaucluse, OzCar co-owner Brett Dale rejected claims that his company was selling defective vehicles.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Shaz and Daz are not an isolated case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Sydney’s south-west, mother-of-two Natasha paid $30,000 for a Hyundai SUV from OzCar’s Campbelltown dealership, only to experience ongoing mechanical faults.<\/p>\n

“I honestly was scared to drive my car to be honest, especially having young kids,” Natasha said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They keep giving us the car back saying it’s fixed, but then there’s another issue.”<\/p>\n

The issue has drawn the attention of consumer protection authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A NSW Fair Trading investigation revealed that OzCar engaged in illegal sales practices, including pressuring vulnerable buyers into contracts and selling vehicles that failed basic quality standards.<\/p>\n

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann confirmed enforcement action was taken against the dealership and its leadership.<\/p>\n

“We hit them with the maximum fines that are available to us under the law,” Mann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We hit the corporation with a $50,000 fine and the directors with $11,000 fines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Combined with strict licence conditions, we expect better behaviour. We will be monitoring them closely.”<\/p>\n

Mann warned that further non-compliance could lead to suspension, license disqualification, or prosecution.<\/p>\n

When confronted outside his $30 million waterfront property in Sydney’s Vaucluse, OzCar co-owner Dale rejected claims that his company was selling defective vehicles.<\/p>\n

“We sell great cars to great people,” Dale said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“24,000 cars over 28 years… If we weren’t doing something right, we wouldn’t be here.”<\/p>\n

When asked about the NSW Fair Trading fines for selling sub-standard vehicles, Dale initially denied the claims before walking away from further questioning.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, OzCar took corrective steps for upset customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It accepted the return of Natasha’s Hyundai SUV and issued a refund.<\/p>\n

OzCar also cleared the remaining $22,990 balance on Shaz and Daz’s car loan and provided an additional $5000 in direct compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys were like angels to us,\u201d Daz told A Current Affair following the resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We had nowhere to go. We didn’t know where to turn.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Melbourne couple Shaz and Daz bought a used MG as an engagement present, they believed they were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-900275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}