Comments on: Have you been caught with car rebirthing?

By: garry barmor

garry barmor — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:51:05 +0000

Hi im a licence panel beater in double bay sydney and have been for 50 years for those u that only blaming ethnic groups is wrong all groups are to be blamed my expierence over the years all been australians and been a australian my self really hurts but its the RTA to blame and for those of u commenting on the familys past as been drug dealers rebirths is pathetic low life talk nonsense its non of ur business its ur fault for buyer the car thank you….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 16:18:38 +0000

I was scammed the other week wen ipurchased a honda eurro for $25,000 we did all the right checks etc and all came up fine and he car n engine looks amazing and is a very pro job on rebirthing making it hard to notice but with my partner and i being perfectionist we were able to figure out that we had been scammed less than 48hrs after buying it – and contactedthe seller, revs, department of consumer protection, the police, honda dealerships, carsales.com.au, our mechanic, panel beaters etc etc i followed and researh every single correct avenue and quickly and did all the right things which ended up no where at all – the police even laughed in my face and looked at me like an idiot saying ‘people r allowed to repair their own car u know – if u hav a problem why dont u just go to the previous owners house n wait there n refuse to leave until u get your money back’ which i found to be absolutely disgusting advice seeing as though thru my research i had found that the family i purchased it off has an abundance of articals and arrests for car re-birthing, fire arms and drug dealing, kid napping And the list goes on! So now i have had to fork out over $5000 to get new parts n repairs for the vehicle so i can sell it without putting someone else in the same position i have been put in! In the meantime been left with no car and having to take my 3yr old daughter to the hospital by bus n train – she has spent half her life in hospitals – and with the traveling to there so often that is why we actualy bought a car quite a bit out of our price range – for the comfort and relyability! How people can do this is beyond me – do they not hav a soul!

By: North Carolina Used Cars

North Carolina Used Cars — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:48:48 +0000

This is the beauty of reading blogs, you educate yourself and you hear people talk their hearts out. The comments here are pretty responsible that’s why my heard is a bit sad because I can mirror truth on most negative comments.
I guess this not only a case in Australia alone but in the whole world. There are still things to be happy about.

By: old school fan

old school fan — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:43:56 +0000

I have been stung! I bought an old RX2 coupe off e-bay. From Sydney, from an ethnic gentleman, planning to do it up. it sat in my back yard for 3 years while I prepared to get started, then it all seemed too hard. So I sold it, after 6 months I get a phone call. From the buyer talking re-births and police. I S*it myself. Gave him his money back. But now I have the car. Its over 40 years old, with incorrect compliance plates and body number! What am I to do with it now?
But as stated, this car has been around for 40 years, so when was it re-birthed? If I tell the police, will they just take it off me and crush it? Can I have any recourse against the man that I bought it off? Or is it strictly buyer beware?

By: Jono

Jono — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:13:56 +0000

Thank goodness for the new stat write off rules in NSW, these will make it alot harder for the people who make massive profits on quick dodgy backyard fixes!!
The quality panel beaters will see an increase in business, as it will become harder to write off a car, and proper repairs will be required, and insurance companies will guarantee them!
Unfortunately this will not stop the whole problem from occuring, however it will limit the amount of backyarders out there buying up cars at the auctions from NSW and interstate for “quick dodgy fixes”. Other states need to follow suit, whether it be making all write-off’s as Statutory or strict VicRoads inspections, it needs to be a National effort!!!

By: Jillian Jones

Jillian Jones — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:30:54 +0000

Thanks for the information and this is truly happening. The cars are stolen and there parts are soled. My father has purchased a new car and it has been only three weeks. Within this three week time the few parts of the car is stolen and this has been brought into the notice of police department and they still not trying to stop such things to happen. The car rebirthing can be a other way to but this problem has to be sought out by the management. onedaycarinsure.co.uk

By: Khaled

Khaled — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:03:59 +0000

I am a male of Middle Eastern descent and, while it hurts me that people are stereotyping car rebirthing as a crime dominated by people with the same background as me, I can’t escape the fact that it’s happening. In fact, I suffer from it because when people see my name in carsales, I’m sure many just pass it by. I would be just as happy for these criminals to be caught and put away as any other taxpaying, God (or Allah)-fearing Australian citizen.

For those who think all people who look like me are “in on it”, please note that these things are unique to the criminals and their families (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/car-rebirthing-scam-busted/story-e6freuy9-1111118728653). It only “looks” like they have a cultural heritage in common because they appear to hail from multiple suburbs and have different names. The truth is a large number of these cars (and there are a lot!) can be linked back to the same criminal organisation. If not one then a handful of them. It’s something most people (ME or not) would touch with a 12-foot barge-pole.

Many people of middle eastern descent themselves are victims of these crimes. I know because many of them come to me to help them buy their NEXT car so they don’t get stung again.

You see, I am the friend they bring along who knows about cars and can pick the dodgy ones. I have managed to avoid them all my adult life but I’m getting to the point where I might start recommending my friends buy a new car to avoid this problem.

It’s so prevalent and there are so many of these cars on the market I’ve lately started to wonder about 2 things:

1) It would be VERY easy for the folk at Carsales (and tradingpost, drive.com.au, etc) to do a query on their database for ads with the same contact number. In fact they could even log the ip address of the computer on which the ad was submitted. I’m in IT and I know this can be done. Give that to the police and hey presto! you’ve got ‘em. Has this been done? If not, why? would it hurt Carsales’ business?

2) How on earth did these cars get re-registered? I mean, if I can pick them from the ads alone, surely the inspectors can tell by looking at the cars in person???

On this latter point I agree with Mustafa, above. The RTA inspectors need to be more vigilant or better trained.

By: Mustafa Ghazzaoui

Mustafa Ghazzaoui — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:34:40 +0000

Car rebirthing was existant well before the migration of any ethnic groups. Going back to the 1960’s when the anglo saxons were populating most suburbs, car re-birthing of Holdens, Fords and the like was very common.

The only difference between back then and now is that there is a media conception that the ethnic (and by saying ethnic I refer to the constant attacks at the Lebanese, greek, Italian, and Asian groups) are the sole groups responsible.

Don’t tell me that this legislation is good for the NSW as it effects numerous industries in a negative manner.

Its not hard to hire RTA Inspection Officers that have a trained eye in the specifations of motor vehicles. Take Victoria for example, an engineer inspects the car with a thorough inspection of the vehicle conducted, the car is scanned, measured and generally checked all over for imperfections. The car simply doesn’t pass if it isn’t road worthy.

Then you look at NSW, cars with NO compliance plates are passed, cars with bent chasis are passed, cars with faulty airbags are passed.

The problem doesn’t lie with the innocent public repairers, the problem lies with the RTA Administration who can’t get their act together.

The reason 60% of cars that are passed are lemons is because the RTA is passing them! NOT because of the faulty workmanship. Its not hard for the inspector to knock back an unroadworthy car…ofcourse he’d need to know what he was looking at first and this is only possible if they are provided with the adequate training.

By: Really annoyed

Really annoyed — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:20:29 +0000

I think I have been stung ?

I just picked up our new car from the Interstate carrier as I live in Perth and the car was brought over from NSW.
The car does not have the log books, user manuals, spare keys and service history information – which was said to be in the glove box. These belong with the car, I thought.
The car appears to have been in an accident or worse. I did ask if it had been in an accident and I was told no.
The car has 2 different VIN# numbers and 2 different date of manufacture stamps. Plus the VIN tag has been removed from the dash. This is ILLEGAL. The registration papers for the car is for a different VIN# (but correct engine #.) I will have to contact the RTA NSW on this issue.

I bought the car through CarSales.com.au at a reasonable price but how can I re-register it over here with these VIN discrepancies ? I did not send payment until I was faxed a copy of the NSW rego papers and doing a little background check on the seller.

Dodgy seller or rebirth or crappy NSW RTA for failing to pick this up ?

Can I get a refund ? keep the car ? re-sell?

By: peter hurford

peter hurford — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:06:08 +0000

I’m having to have my vehicle “inspected” when transferring registration between states where we now live .

The national data register says my VIN is “corrupted” and I’ve owned it over 8 years! I’ve never heard of this happening to a new one owner car or am I mistaken naieve ?

The ACT Roads and traffic have never rejected or quierred my annual rego renewal! so why does this happen after so many years !