AADA urges to end the practice of 'fake ales' within Australia

The Australian Automotive Dealer Association recently revealed that 'fake sales' are hurting consumers and the country's overall economic health.

The national groundswell against OEMs engaged in registering vehicles that have no buyers – known as ‘cyber cars’ – continues this year with the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) reiterating calls for it to be abolished.

It comes as the US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announces a clampdown on false reporting practices and as action continues in the UK against cyber cars.

The AADA this week said that “fake sales reporting can adversely impact consumers by eating into new-car warranties” and that the reporting of these sales “undermines the credibility of data relied upon to assess Australia’s economic health”.

The association concedes the practice has presented a far more buoyant image of the state of the Australian automotive industry and has led to governments choosing to tap into this wealth by applying state-based stamp duty increases.

This is applied in Victoria and Queensland and is additional to the federal luxury car tax.

AADA CEO James Voortman said: “International regulators are waking up to the problem and have started to target car manufacturers which report exaggerated and false sales figures.

“Last week it was reported that the SEC opened an investigation into BMW, while in September Fiat Chrysler agreed to pay the SEC $40 million over claims it inflated sales figures.

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