A dealership in Mississauga, Ont., has been suspended due to allegations of forgery, odometer tampering, fraudulent vehicle transfers and illegal sales, according to an Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) news release.
The dealership in question is KK Motors Canada Inc., located at 6295 Mississauga Rd, Unit 215A. Its sole officer and director, Kajendran Kasippillai, has also been suspended.
According to OMVIC, the dealer purchased insurance write-offs from salvage auctions and had the cars repaired and sold to consumers. The selling of the vehicles was not often done directly by KK Motors. Instead, they used an “unregistered businesses or individuals working for, or with, the dealer.”
“OMVIC believes that in order to distance themselves from these vehicles, KK Motors Canada Inc. forged documents and fraudulently transferred these vehicles into the names of past customers, prior to making the vehicles available for sale by the unregistered businesses and individuals,” said John Carmichael, OMVIC CEO and Interim Registrar. “Most purchasers didn’t know about KK Motors; they thought they were buying the vehicles privately.”
OMVIC investigated 13 vehicles and found six with rolled-back odometers. One such example includes a 2007 Honda Odyssey sold in June 2018 by a KK Motors’ associated seller with an odometer reading of 141,411 kilometres. Four months later the mileage was reported to be 335,230 kms, according to the news release.
“OMVIC is alleging the fraudulent manipulation of odometers was done by, or on behalf of, KK Motors Inc.,” said Carmichael.
Separately, a dealership in Ottawa has also been suspended.
Marcel Motors Ltd. o/a Eastside Better Used Cars, located at 2925 Bank Street, and its officer and director, Nitin Chopra, have been blocked from selling, leasing, buying and delivering vehicles.
The immediate suspension of the dealership was the result of “recent serious consumer complaints and alleged breaches of conditions of registration ordered earlier this year by the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT).”
The dealer could still appeal the Immediate Suspension Order, leading to a hearing within 15 days before the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT).
