translated from Spanish: Sernac monitors motor vehicles after consumer claims for back-to-back sales

The Sernac reported that it began a audit of the country’s automotive companies after identifying through citizen claims and alerts from consumers, a series of practices that could constitute violations of the Consumer Law.Infringements have to do with tied sales, delays in the delivery of vehicles and refusal to sell if the person does not opt for a credit offered by the same company. The agency’s national director, Lucas del Villar, explained that this audit aims to gather the necessary background to verify whether it is an extended practice, and whether consumers’ rights to free choice, among others, are being violated. Del Villar stated that “if we verify that there are violations, we will take appropriate action. An automotive credit is a debt, which can never be imposed, except by a single company. For its part, a vehicle is not any product, as it is a high value purchase for families, which is often paid for many years. Therefore, any non-compliance causes greater harm to consumers.” During 2020 and so far this year, SERNAC has received more than fifty claims. According to the authority, “companies cannot condition a sale on the acquisition of a credit, which, moreover, by definition has a higher cost. There can be no excuse for a consumer not being able to pay cash for a product.” In addition, the national director has received claims indicating that the delivery dates of the purchased vehicles would not be respected or would delay in the return of the money from cancelled reservations.” There may be external reasons to justify the delay, but we must look into the objective reasons for this, and in particular how the consumer is being informed of these delays. If a company knows in advance that there may be delays, it must commit to possible deadlines to comply,” he said.

Original source in Spanish