THE buyer of a Volkswagen Beetle is suing the sellers for selling him a car that was over a year old even before it was put on the road here.

Late last December, Muhamed Ali Abdul Rashid, 36, bought the $72,000 car from Car & Cars, then the dealer for VW.

When the car was ready for delivery on Feb 15 this year, he realised from the registration card that the vehicle was made in 2005.

He refused the car, which has since been with Volkswagen Group Singapore (VGS), a regional unit of the carmaker that took over the import and sales of VW here from Car & Cars earlier this year.

In what lawyers say is the first case of its kind, Mr Muhamed Ali, the regional manager of a manufacturing company, is claiming, among other things, a refund and financing charges he has incurred on his car loan so far.

He told The Straits Times: "They did offer me a few thousand dollars as compensation, but it's not about the money. I asked for a new car and I expect a new car."

In the case, slated for hearing on Sept 4, he will be represented by A. Mohamed Hashim, and Car & Cars by Chong, Chia & Lim. VGS, to be represented by KhattarWong, has been named as a third party.

The Straits Times understands that if the court rules in Mr Muhamed Ali's favour, Car & Cars will seek recourse and claim whatever it has to pay its former customer from VGS.

When contacted, VGS managing director Olaf Duebel said the case was "something between the customer and Car & Cars".

He said the car was manufactured in Mexico in late 2005, and would have taken three or four months to arrive here by ship.

Mr Duebel said: "It was scheduled to be delivered in mid-2006. You'll have to ask Car & Cars why it took so long to deliver it, and why it asked specifically for this car."

Mr Peter Kwee, the owner of Car & Cars, said the black Beetle was among a batch of cars ordered in April last year. By July, the car had arrived, and could have been sold if there was a buyer.

But it was not sold until December: Mr Muhamed Ali signed the sales agreement on Dec 29.

As to why Car & Cars picked this car from its stock, Mr Kwee said it was drawn from what Car & Cars had in hand, and that the dealer did not know at the time that it was a 2005 car.

He added that if Car & Cars had known, the customer would have been told - especially since the car was to be delivered only this year.

Industry players say that discounts of $1,000 or more are usually offered for older cars.

But what is "older"?

Motor Traders Association president Michael Wong said there is no standard definition, but generally, companies would offer a discount if the car arrived here more than seven to eight months before.

"It is better to be upfront with customers, because they will find out eventually," he said.

Mr Marc Singleton, chief operating officer of Audi agent Premium Automobiles, said: "You'd be in trouble if you tried to hide it."

BMW agent Performance Motors' spokesman Belinda Bay said it was company policy to declare the year of manufacture, and that its sales agreement has a field that states this in black and white.

At Honda agent Kah Motor, product manager Vincent Ng said: "We have to make the year of manufacture clear to customers. As a rule, we offer a discount if the car was made more than a year ago."

But one dealer for a continental brand who did not wish to be named admitted that customers are told of the manufacture date "only if they ask". "But even if we do not tell, we will sell the older cars at a more attractive price," he said.

Cars take about three weeks to be shipped here from Japan, four weeks from Europe and eight to 10 weeks from the United States.

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TIMELINE

Late 2005: The VW Beetle was manufactured in Mexico.
April 2006: Car & Cars orders batch of cars, among which was the Beetle.
July: The car arrives in Singapore.
Dec 29: Mr Muhamed Ali signs sales agreement for the car.
Feb 15, 2007: Car ready for delivery but Mr Muhamed Ali refuses to acc