A CAR salesman has told a judge that car prices are deliberately inflated to make trade in values look bigger and better to potential purchasers.
Mr John Ward told Judge James Carroll in Dublin Circuit "Civil Court of how, in 1993, he had allowed a £1,200 valuation on a 1982 Ford Fiesta traded in against an almost new Nissan Sunny. Mr Ward said he had road tested the Fiesta and found it was unroadworthy. It had been sold "to the trade" for £400.
He said that all cars had inflated prices. If a customer wanted to purchase a new £12,000 car, for cash he could buy it for £10,500.
Mr Ward was giving evidence in an appeal by Mr Barry Nugent, Brookfield Court, Kimmage, Dublin, against a District Court decision awarding £2,000 against him for an alleged loan from Mr Richard J. Moore, Willow Park Crescent, Glasnevin, the father of his former girlfriend.
Mr Nugent said he had given Mr Moore's daughter, Evelyn, his 1985 car on the basis that Mr Moore would pay off the outstanding £2,000 repayments on it to his finance company. He in turn had taken Ms Moore's older Fiesta to trade in against a new car he was buying. There had never been any question of his seeking a loan from Mr Moore.
In allowing the appeal, Judge Carroll told Ms Sarah Berkeley, counsel for Mr Nugent, that he felt the transaction had been more beneficial to Mr Moore and his daughter than to Mr Nugent.