City lawyer wants Crotons Motors to compensate him for raising his hopes up about purchase of a Mercedes Benz that he later sold to someone else.
Lawyer Shadrack Wambui wants the court to order the car dealer to compensate him by paying him Sh 113,842 for deceiving him.
Wambui says on Saturday August 5 he was passing by the dealer in Karen when he saw the Mercedes Benz and thought it was a good deal.
He went in and after taking to the dealer agreed on a down payment of Sh 200,000 which he paid the next morning and he was given a log book copy to go do a search of the car
However, to his shock at 6 pm the dealer called him to inform him that someone else had paid for the car 2 minutes before him.
Wambui says that was very dishonest as he was called over 8 hours after payment.
The dealer returned his deposit back to him which has led the lawyer to file the case before the small claims court.
The lawyer also a Lawyer lecturer at CUEA says he spent resources to get advice from two Mercedes specialists and also lost time that he would have used to do something else.
Wambui says the case was filed to protect the great public interest in order to discourage tendencies of greed and dishonesty amongst the many unscrupulous motor vehicle dealers whose desire in business is to make profits at all cost regardless of the violation of others rights and loss of time and resources.
According to court papers, Wambui made the deposit 5th August to Croton Motors Equity bank account after costly and extensive consultations from two Mercedes Benz experts and background searches conducted through the assistance of another independent motor vehicle dealer at a considerable cost for the service.
He claims that the balance for the car was Sh 1.7 million and was to be made following a tripartite agreement between the parties.
“THAT at around 1900 hours the 1st Respondent reimbursed the Applicant the 200,000 shillings signifying the cancellation of the oral agreement for the sale ignoring that the Applicant had incurred so many costs amounting to 113,842 shillings being monies paid to the two experts engaged to offer their professional opinion sought to diagnose the vehicle, inspect it and approve its fitness for purpose costs for the search and due diligence conducted prior to the making of the deposit made and transactional costs incurred by the applicant,”Wambui says
Wambui has won round one of the case after the court issued temporary orders stopping Crotons from selling car to anyone pending hearing and determination of case.
“restraining the dealer from selling, disposing, transferring, removing from the 1st Respondent’s showroom at Karen motor or any other manner dealing with the vehicle in issue of registration number KCC 299J,” the order reads.
