Luxury used car salesmen claim bad Google reviews damaged their reputations
PORT Melbourne luxury car dealer Srecko Lorbek — who counts Foreign Minister Julie Bishop among his friends — is suing his own customer for claiming on social media he was sold a lemon Porsche.
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LUXURY car dealer Srecko Lorbek — who counts Foreign Minister Julie Bishop among his friends — is suing his own customer for claiming on social media he was sold a lemon.
Peter King purchased a 2011 model Porsche Panamera Turbo from Port Melbourne’s Lorbek Luxury Cars in July last year, according to a writ lodged in the Supreme Court by the company’s owner Srecko Lorbek, and his brother and salesman, David Lorbek.
The Lorbeks accuse Mr King of waging a campaign against them to have them prosecuted as frauds and banned from selling cars.
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Their writ claims the first of four allegedly defamatory posts by Mr King appeared shortly after Magistrates’ Court proceedings between them were settled.
Mr King’s posts claim that settlement in March saw Lorbek agree to pay for the cost of repairing the luxury station wagon.
Copies of his posts attached to the Lorbeks’ writ show Mr King claimed he took the car — worth around $140,000 second-hand — to a Porsche dealer when problems occurred soon after he took delivery.
Mr King claims that dealer told him the car was not roadworthy, with brakes, tyres and suspension all needing to be replaced, but Lorbek denied liability, allegedly claiming it was his treatment of the car that caused the problems.
Mr King’s posts claim that prior to his purchasing the car, a Porsche dealer had declined to purchase it from Lorbek after discovering major faults.
Mr King’s posts claim Lorbek did nothing to fix these faults before selling the car to him, and that the “prestige auto repairer” which provided the roadworthy certificate and regularly worked for Lorbek, had been the subject of a VicRoads investigation.
VicRoads said this company had been stripped of its roadworthy tester license in 2010 but had since moved, regained its licence and was not currently under investigation.
The Lorbeks allege the three “reviews” by Mr King on Google and one on Law Answers defamed them by suggesting they knowingly and criminally sold a car with a fraudulent roadworthy and were dishonest and untrustworthy.
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As a result, the Lorbeks claim they have been brought into “hatred, contempt and ridicule”.
Srecko Lorbek, whose wedding to Dr Chantel Thornton at Tasmania’s celebrated Mona art gallery in March was attended by Ms Bishop, claims his reputation as a licensed car trader and businessman has been injured, while Peter Lorbek alleges his reputation as a car salesman has been damaged.
They claim Mr King has refused to apologise or retract his allegations, which they allege were sensationalised to the sacrifice of their reputations and written for the express purpose of damaging their reputations with reckless indifference to their truth.
They are seeking unspecified aggravated damages, interest and costs, and an injunction to have the offending items removed from publication.