Alfa Pages

[AlfaJon]

I did a wild thing last week. I am mad keen on Alfas and I was looking on the Autotrader website and saw a Alfa Romeo Sprint 1986 for sale in Sydney, Australia for $3000 from a Classic Car Dealer. I have had one of these Alfasud variants before, and they are beautiful, fun cars. I called and put a small deposit on it, and flew from Brisbane to Sydney to view it. The car appeared to be in great condition, and compared to my last one, it really is.

But here's the problem. The dealer said the his "mechanic down the road" does Roadworthy's (like the UK MOT) and knows the car, and is able to write out a Roadworthy Certificate if I need it, but because he (the dealer) knows that I was taking it back to Brisbane he did not bother getting it done, but if I decide to register in NSW he can get one sent to me "no worries". (it is the law in OZ for dealers to make sure their cars are Roadworthy and supply a current Roadworthy certifcate with every car they sell) Alarm bells rung in my head, but I guess that sounded OK at the time, after all New South Wales Roadworthy regulations are thought to be the toughest in Australia - and if it could pass in NSW it would have no problem in Queensland right? Wrong.

The Italian specialist in Queensland says he can get it through the Roadworthy, but it will cost me $1280. Another car mechanic who wasn't a Italian specialist said $2000. The fail points are oil leaks, slipping clutch and a assortment of minor items. Nothing horrific, but illegal not to get fixed. So what should I do? Basically my problem is that I feel that the Sydney classic car dealer sold me an unroadworthy car, which is illegal I believe (isn't that why people go to dealers in the first place?). So I have written to the dealer stating the problem, and have asked him for the NSW Roadworthy from his mechanic so I can send it with the QLD Roadworthy failure sheet to the NSW Office of Fair Trading. Hopefully this will persuade him just to pay a contribution towards the repair costs. Is this what you would do? Please advise! Thanks

[Joelomint]

if the car is dealer is, as you suspect, a bit dodgy, dobbing him in to the O.F.T. ( and ultimately the cops ) might not be too wise. i guess he got your number and address and stuff?