Salameh Soud Haddad convicted, ordered to pay back thousands after tampering with used car odometers
A second-hand car salesman has been convicted and ordered to repay thousands of dollars after he was caught winding back the odometers of two cars.
Police & Courts
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A second-hand car salesman has been convicted and ordered to repay thousands of dollars after he was caught winding back the odometers of two cars.
Salameh Soud Haddad, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of interfering with the odometer on a second-hand vehicle and appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court last week for sentencing.
Haddad had been a licensed second-hand vehicles seller since 2016 and at the time of the offending.
Magistrate Karim Soetratma said Haddad had purchased a Holden Commodore for $6380 when it had an odometer reading of 256,416kms.
He later sold the Commodore in April 2020 over social media for $7700 after removing and replacing the car’s “instrument cluster” which included the odometer.
The new odometer reading on the car was around 190,000kms.
Haddad did not tell the new buyer about the replacement odometer.
Consumer and Business Services investigators discovered a second sale while looking into the sale of the Commodore.
Haddad bought a Subaru Forester online for $4009 which had an odometer reading of 282,627kms.
He again replaced the instrument cluster and installed an odometer with a reading of 182,360, reselling the vehicle for $7000.
After the Forrester was sold, the new owner found the check engine light kept coming on.
A mechanic found the car had a significant fault in the engine which the new owner could not afford to fix.
The car was sold for a $2000 loss.
Haddad was ordered to compensate the first Forrester owner $2000 for the loss and an additional $2100 to the second owner of the car for additional repairs.
He was ordered to pay CBS $300 for the cost of restoring the odometer as well as hundreds of dollars in legal fees and a fine of $450.
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