A motor dealer must pay a €500 fine and €8,000 in compensation after being found guilty of falsifying the mileage on a car that he sold.
Waterford District Court convicted Oleksandr Matveyshyn, of MIV Motors, 6 Cross Roads Business Park, Kilbarry, Waterford, of engaging in a misleading commercial practice, an offence under the Consumer Protection Act, 2007, on Monday.
The court fined Mr Matveyshyn €500 and ordered him to pay €1,000 in legal costs and €8,000 compensation to the consumer involved.
The conviction followed an investigation and prosecution by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) following a complaint from a consumer in January 2015.
Mr Mataveyshyn sold the consumer a BMW car, imported from the UK, which had 36,000 miles on its odometer. The commission's investigation found that it had 105,412 miles.
CCPC chairwoman Isolde Goggin pointed out that selling a clocked car is serious offence. "Not only can it be costly but critically it could be dangerous," she said.
Ms Goggin added that if the CCPC suspected that someone had been misled in this way, it would do everything in its power to investigate and, where needed, take enforcement action.
