A used car dealer has been jailed for 16 months and banned from being a company director for five years after selling clocked and unroadworthy vehicles.
Farman Tayebi, from Putney, South West London, who also used the name Fabian, appeared before Kingston Crown Court on 12 February. The court heard he had removed more than 30,000 miles from the clocks of two cars that he had been unable to sell from his Direct Car Sales dealerships in New Malden and Putney.
Trustworthiness and honest dealing should be the bedrock of your business. A reputable car dealership also needs good levels of motor trade insurance and road risks insurance to ensure both the business and its customers are properly covered.
Tayebi pleaded guilty to the offences and was also fined £200. The court heard that he clocked an Audi and a Peugeot that he had struggled to sell and placed adverts for the vehicles with the false mileages.
The court also heard that he sold on cars with “dangerously unroadworthy tyres” and vehicles that broke down days after leaving his showroom. Prosecutors said his business practices had cost customers around £25,000.
Tayebi’s dealership in New Malden was the subject of 33 complaints to Trading Standards in 2012 and 95 in 2013, more than any other dealership in the borough of Kingston, the Croydon Guardian reported.
Ben Temple, who was defending the dealer, said Tayebi had been placed under “severe stress” and his behaviour may well have been because his business was failing.
He added: “It’s systematic of financial trouble.”
But Judge Sarah Plaschkes told Tayebi: “The practices you deployed were designed to maximise your profits and, as I say, deny consumers their customer rights.
“You have shown no remorse for the offences you have committed. The way you carried on your second hand car business was thoroughly reprehensible.”
