Two unlicensed traders spent Christmas a little lighter in the pocket following fines for crimes under the Motor Car Traders Act.
Frank Spagnolo, of Hillside, was fined $3000 for odometer tampering, by substituting an instrument panel on a Toyota Hilux to display a reading reduced by about 139,000km.
Spagnolo pleaded guilty in Sunshine Magistrates’ Court.
In April, Spagnolo bought a 2009 Toyota Hilux from Pickles Auctions with an odometer reading of about 196,300kms. He then bought a second-hand instrument cluster panel displaying an odometer reading of about 56,000kms.
Spagnolo installed the panel, but the substitution was discovered when he presented the car to an auction house for sale. The sale did not proceed.
The court fined Spagnolo $3000, without conviction and ordered that he pay $477 costs.
Meanwhile, Lance Edsall, of Dandenong, pleaded guilty in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court to one count of breaching the Motor Car Traders Act 1986 between 9 June 2011 and 24 May 2012.
He has been fined $3500 after offering to sell 17 cars in Dandenong South.
By law, anyone who buys, sells or exchanges four or more cars in a 12-month period (or offers to do so, including if they do this as an agent for someone else), is deemed to be a motor car trader, and required to be licensed.
Edsall was also ordered to pay $480.19 costs.
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