Responding to a Faulty-Car Claim at QCAT: A Queensland Motor Dealer’s Defence Guide

You are a licensed Queensland motor dealer, and a buyer has just lodged a claim against your dealership at QCAT (the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal) saying the car you sold them is faulty. It is unsettling, there is a clock running, and it is tempting either to ignore it or to fire back. Both are mistakes. The dealers who come out of QCAT well are the ones who understand exactly what the law requires, work out honestly whether the claim is actually made out, and respond properly and on time. This page gives you the groundwork to do that.

For the forms, fees and each step, see our guide to making an QCAT application.

First, the clock: you have 28 days

A buyer’s faulty-car claim against a dealer is a motor vehicle dispute at QCAT, started on a Form 59 “Application – Motor Vehicle Dispute”. When you are served, you must file a Form 60 “Response and/or counter-application” within 28 days of receiving the application (QCAT Rules r 44). There is no fee to respond, but you must give a copy to the applicant and anyone else served. Diarise that 28-day date straight away. If you do not respond and do not attend, QCAT can hear and decide the matter in your absence (QCAT Act s 93), and in larger claims a final decision can be made in the buyer’s favour after a missed direction.

Lodge the Form 60 by email to enquiries@qcat.qld.gov.au, in person at Floor 11, 259 Queen Street, Brisbane (or any local Magistrates Court), or by post to GPO Box 1639, Brisbane Qld 4001. In it, set out which facts in the application you admit, which you dispute and why, and any extra relevant facts, in numbered paragraphs that match the application.

Know what you actually owe before you decide how to fight

You cannot build a sensible defence until you know the floor the law sets. A Queensland dealer sits under two overlapping sets of obligations, and the buyer can rely on either or both.

The Australian Consumer Law guarantees

You guarantee that the car is of acceptable quality (ACL s 54): fit for the purposes cars are commonly used for, acceptable in appearance, free from defects, safe and durable — judged against the car’s nature and price and other circumstances (s 54(3)). This is where age, kilometres and price matter: a reasonable buyer expects less of an older, higher-kilometre, cheaper car than of a near-new one, but it must still be safe and roadworthy.

The remedy depends on whether the failure is major or minor. For a minor, repairable fault, the law is on your side in an important way: the supplier chooses the remedy (s 261), and the buyer must give you a reasonable opportunity to fix it before going elsewhere (s 259(2)). A buyer cannot demand a refund for a minor fault you are willing and able to repair promptly. Only a major failure (one a reasonable buyer would not have accepted, or that makes the car unsafe or substantially unfit and not easily fixable) lets the buyer reject the car and choose a refund or replacement.

The Queensland statutory warranty

On top of the ACL, Schedule 1 of the Motor Dealers and Chattel Auctioneers Act 2014 gives a statutory warranty on a “warranted vehicle”:

• Class A (under 160,000 km and built within 10 years of sale): warranted for the first of 5,000 km or 3 months after the buyer takes possession.
• Class B (160,000 km or more, or built more than 10 years before sale): warranted for the first of 1,000 km or 1 month.

Two deadlines bite hard here. When a buyer gives you a written defect notice, you must give written warranty advice accepting or refusing cover within 5 business days, or you are taken to have accepted (s 11). If you accept, you must repair at your expense within 14 days unless you have a reasonable excuse (s 12). Miss these and your position gets much weaker, fast.

Then test whether the claim is really made out

Many claims are valid and are best resolved quickly and cheaply. But some are overstated or not made out, and the law gives you genuine limits and defences — when the facts support them. Raise them because they are true and backed by evidence, never as a tactic. Honest points worth checking:

• Did you disclose the defect in writing before the sale? A specific, written, pre-sale disclosure can take that exact defect out of the acceptable-quality guarantee (s 54(4)–(5)). A vague “sold as is” line does not count.
• Would a reasonable pre-sale inspection have revealed it? (s 54(7)) — but this does not cover hidden engine, brake or gearbox faults a normal inspection would not detect.
• Did the buyer cause it, or misuse the car? (s 54(6)) — you will need evidence, not just an assertion.
• Is it normal wear and tear for a car of that age and kilometres — rather than a premature or abnormal failure?
• Did the buyer deny you the chance to repair a minor fault first? (ss 259(2), 261).
• Has the right to reject been lost? (s 262) — though note the rejection period is not tied to any warranty period.

Be just as clear about what you must not do. The ACCC has flagged, as conduct it is watching, dealers who deny responsibility and put the onus on the buyer, who argue a fault does not exist in the face of clear evidence, who hide behind an expired warranty or a “no refunds” policy, who tell buyers to go to the manufacturer, or who insist on a confidentiality agreement before giving a remedy. None of that will survive at QCAT, and all of it carries a licensing risk.

Build the evidence, and be honest with the Tribunal

QCAT is not bound by the rules of evidence, but you still win or lose on documents: the contract and invoice, the signed statutory warranty notice, any written pre-sale disclosure, service and inspection records, the odometer reading at sale, the defect notice and your warranty advice, all correspondence, dated photos, and above all a credible independent expert report on the cause and seriousness of the fault. In larger claims QCAT often appoints an independent assessor whose report is hard to argue around — so treat an honest expert view as decisive, not as something to fight.

And be straight with the Tribunal. QCAT Act s 216 makes it an offence to knowingly give false or misleading information. A defence built on an honest reading of the evidence is stronger and far safer than one that shades the facts. If you use a generative tool to help draft anything, check every section number and case reference yourself — QCAT can make an adverse costs order over citations that do not exist.

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General information, not legal advice. Claim Done is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This page is general information only and may not reflect the most recent changes to the law or your particular circumstances. For advice on your situation, consult a qualified Australian legal practitioner.

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