Chatswood Toyota Servo Australia My husband traded in his peugeot for a Toyota hybrid. His car was worth nearly $10,000 secondhand. We were offered only $1,500. Sydney New South Wales

In November 2019 our elder daughter told us she was going to have a baby and asked if I would be prepared to give her my nearly 20-year-old Toyota Tarago people-mover.  Of course I would, and did.  In January 2020 my husband said he would trade in his $20,000 manual transmission peugoet in order that we could purchase an automatic transmission Toyota hybrid car, the cheapest of which was priced at nearly $30,000.  The secondhand value of my husband's peugeot was nearly $10,000 head we chosen to sell privately,  Due to time constraints relating to the imminent birth of our first grandchild, we agreed to trade in rather than sell it privately.

Chatswood Toyota offered us only $1,500 which we agreed to as we knew no-one able to sell it for us otherwise.  It is only now, nearly nine months later, whilse we are in the process of selling the hybrid we purchased back in January, that we realise by how much Chatswood Toyota defrauded us on the trade in price.  We were given $6-8,000 less than the then current market price for an new, secondhand peugeot.  I wish to point out that in buying a Toyota we were down-grading, as a peugeot is a far more upmarket car than any Toyota. 

The treatment we received from the salesman on the day of purchase and the day of delivery of our new car was deceptive and misleading.  At no time did he tell the truth about the car he was selling us.  When a rang his a few days later to politely talk to him, he verbally abused me. 

When I tried to contact his manager I was told he was overseas.  When I went in to see his manager I was told he was overseas and yet 29 minutes later he appeared and ushered me into his office where for over half an hour he harrassed and harraunged me.  When I, as a five foot tall, 115 pound, 62-year-old woman disputed what he was saying, he stood up and physically bullied and assualted me by throwing a file of papers at me.

  My husband and I have since sought legal recourse through two of Australia's civil courts: Fair Trading New South Wales and NCAT (New South Wales Civil Affairs Tribunal).  Fair Trading were unable to come to any agreement with Chatswood Toyota.  The other day, after a lengthy Tribunal Hearing, conducted via telephone conference due to Covid19 restrictions, the saleman, his manager and the CEO of Chatswood Toyota were able to convince the Tribunal Member conducting the phone hearing that their lies were the truth.  I am very pragmatic about the outcome.  We lost.  Sometimes in life the bad guys win. 

I am writing this to warn anyone and everyone to stay away from Chatswood Toyota.  As a very nice female Senior Constable said to me the other night, only hours after we had received our verdict: as the Manager of Chatswood Toyota did not actually lay a physical finger on me, then he cannot be charged with physical assault or even with physical bullying.  Throwing things and using intimidating behaviour does not constitute assault and the manager knew this very well.  I very much doubt whether this was the first time he had acted in that manner and I very much doubt whether it will be the last.

In the meantime everything is turning out much for the better.  My daughter and her future husband will sell our hybrid for close to what we paid for it.  I have contacted a car broker who will source the most expensive Toyota hybrid for us at a much lower price than Chatswood Toyota have it listed.  My husband and I will break even and we will never have to deal with Chatswood Toyota again.

The only thing that cannot be undone is the $6-8,000 my husband was swindled out by Chatswood Toyota when he traded in his little red peugeot.

The best thing of all, and I know I am not allowed or supposed to get emotional in this report, but I ask you to please beg the indulgence of a first-time Grandma, is that our new granddaughter is the most beautiful baby ever born.  She is an angel.  And that makes up for everything.

I thank you for reading this and heeding my warnings about Chatswood Toyota and the fraudulent way they disregard the truth, and the malevalent way they treat people.