Masquerading as a 1996 BMW M3, the car Tyrone de Wet of Cape Town bought from Jurie Swart Supercars in 2002, has been unmasked as rebuilt from three scrapped BMWs.
"I will have to get someone to do a proper audit of the records to get
to the bottom of this very unusual case," said Peter Beets, a director
in the provincial transport department.
A BMW dealership says a specific number on the car shows that its body
is not the original one.
Shamiela Jakoet of the parts department at Auto Atlantic said something
called the PNA number, found on De Wet's BMW, indicated that a new body
had been fitted.
De Wet told Argus Action that when he bought the BMW, it had 61 000 on
the clock, plus a record of its services, and a valid registration
certificate.
He might never have discovered that his car was rebuilt if the ignition
had not broken.
Only when he tried to order a new ignition from BMW did the "facts"
about his car begin to unravel.
Auto Atlantic had asked for a copy of the BMW's registration certificate
before ordering the new ignition from Germany, and had discovered that
the vehicle identification number (VIN), also known as the chassis
number, on the certificate was not on the system.
The dealership also found that the engine number on his car belonged to
a 1995 BMW white Alpine scrapped in July 1996.
"We then plugged the car into their BMW personal computer to read the
clocks, and a VIN belonging to another 1994 BMW, this time a blue one,
showed up. That car was also deregistered in 1996."
He had next gone to the police for a clearance certificate, and they
found another VIN under the back seats, belonging to a 1993 BMW written
off and rebuilt in 1996.
The number for the rebuilt car was the one on his registration
documents.
Auto Atlantic has now told De Wet it will import an ignition from
Germany for his car, but if the ignition does not work, he will still
have to pay R440 for it.
De Wet said: "The ignition key number must correspond with the chassis
number, but I have got three chassis numbers on my car, so which keys do
I get?"
Beets told Argus Action most of the "identifiers" connected with the
three cars used to rebuild the one De Wet owned, originated in the Free
State.
The history of the BMW filled six or seven pages, Beets added.
"Normally a vehicle has a two-page history."
Errol Coosner, an automotive repair consultant, told Argus Action that
Jurie Swart Super cars had to bear responsibility for selling De Wet a
rebuilt vehicle without telling him, even if the dealership had not
known it was rebuilt.
"Mr De Wet paid for the car in good faith, and the dealership is after
all the expert. We can understand them making a mistake, but then they
must rectify it."
De Wet says he does not want to keep the BMW, because "I will not be
able to sell it one day".
"I am not accusing Jurie Swart of rebuilding the car, but they sold it
to me and I don't think I should just walk away without being
compensated for paying for
something I would never have bought had I known its history."
Apart from monetary compensation, De Wet wants the dealership to take
the BMW back and to settle the outstanding installments with the bank.
"The car cost R165 000, and I have paid R110 000 since I bought it 22
months ago."
Eugene Howard of Black & White Motor Corporation, owners of Jurie Swart
Supercars, says De Wet has turned down two offers from
the dealership to settle the matter.
"We are just as innocent as Mr De Wet, in that we bought the car in good
faith."
Howard said the dealership's case against the person who sold it the
car, "is only as strong as Mr De Wet's case against us".
Riaan Loedolff, who sold the car to Jurie Swart, told Argus Action he
had bought it in 2001 from a private person aged over 70, who to his
knowledge was the first owner. When Loedolff bought the BMW, it had 20
000 on the clock.
"I did not build this car up. I had no idea it was built up," said
Loedolff.
De Wet says he will play bloodhound to unearth his car's true history.
"Someone has to take responsibility for the fact that I am landed with a
rebuilt car."
So far he had discovered that the chassis of his car had originally
belonged to a 1993 model red BMW written off in 1996, when a mother and
child died in the accident.
A new body for that car was ordered from a BMW agent in Port Elizabeth,
and is now on his car.
"Everything else in my car comes from donor cars."
The BMW papers of his car showed that the car Loedolff bought from the
person he thought was the original owner left the factory a 1995 model
white BMW M3.
Published on the web by Cape Argus on October 26, 2004.