Karz Automobile still open, contrary to consumer watchdog’s report of its abrupt closure

SINGAPORE — A car dealership that was reported by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) to have suddenly shut down, leaving its customers in the lurch, is still operating, albeit at a different address.

TODAY visited West Coast Car Mart, where Karz Automobile is located, on Friday (Nov 22) evening and found that it was open, hours after Case said in a news alert that the company and another dealership, Universe Motoring, were closed.

Mr Kenny Yeo, director of Karz Automobile, said that he was shocked to find out about Case’s alert on Friday.

“This morning, I received a lot of calls from my suppliers, customers and friends, asking me what happened,” he said. “I was shocked because I didn’t know about it until they told me.”

Case said on Friday morning that it had received complaints from car buyers that after making payment and receiving their vehicles, they had experienced delays in getting their vehicle ownership records.

The record, which must be transferred within seven days from purchase, helps the buyer ascertain that there are no outstanding financial or road tax matters relating to the car.

Case also said that based on feedback from consumers, both Karz Automobile and Universe Motoring had vacated their premises.

Checks by TODAY found that Universe Motoring is no longer located at 210 Turf Club Road, Car Mall at The Grandstand, which is the address stated on its website. Its former units, A19/20 and B22/23, were occupied by other car dealers Viking Motor, Car House Enterprise and Car Empire.

Over at West Coast Car Mart, Karz Automobile was found to be open at Lot 04/05. Three employees were present and the dealership’s manager, who wished to be known only as Dave, was seen speaking to two customers in his office.

Mr Yeo told TODAY that Karz Automobile has always been in operations, and had opened as usual at around 9am on Friday.

He said that Karz Automobile shifted to its current address, which he described as a “more prominent” location, several months ago. Dave, the manager, told TODAY that the company was previously at #01-30 in West Coast Car Mart.

However, there has been no change to the company’s office number and Mr Yeo said he had updated the address of his business on online car sales portal sgCarMart after the move.

When asked if he had informed customers of the move, Mr Yeo said that he had told some but not all his customers.

CUSTOMERS 'HELD BACK' ON DEALS

On customers’ claims that Karz Automobile had failed to transfer vehicle ownership records to them, Mr Yeo said that he was unable to comment on the status of the transfers as these were handled by another employee.

He said that the alert has affected the dealership’s business.

“We were supposed to clinch two deals today. Because of this news, customers have held back on their deals. This has cost us a lot of damage,” said Mr Yeo.

Mr Yeo claimed that he had not been contacted by Case officers by email or phone to verify if Karz Automobile had closed prior to Case’s alert on Friday.

“We need to have an explanation from Case on how such news can be released before they do their checks,” said Mr Yeo.

Mr Yeo’s lawyer, Mr Fan Kin Ning of DOP Law Corporation, told TODAY that he had sent a letter to Case this afternoon to obtain a clarification on what had happened.

“We read the news reports and they seem to suggest that the (information) originated from Case,” Mr Fan said

“So we want to obtain clarification on what happened. If it is true and it originated from Case, then we would like an apology from them.”

TODAY has reached out to Case for its response.