Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509057
5 NEWS 5.10.2023 No Deposit Cars adopted 'misleading commercial practices', Court rules VACANCY Grixti Properties Ltd, San Gwann, has job positions for general labourers & general construction cleaners in road construction. Applicants must have experience, fluently speak English and other languages. Hourly rate €5. Interested applicants may send an e-mail to: secretary@a-plusplus.eu. FROM PAGE 1 "The principle of good faith is a basic element, even when buying something second-hand. The practic- es adopted by the company amount to misleading com- mercial practices because it was using deceptive methods to cheat ordinary consum- ers… in civil law, bad faith is the equivalent of fraud," the judge ruled. The judge was presiding over a case filed by No De- posit Cars against its client Mark Cauchi who had pur- chased a Citroen C3 on hire purchase. Lawyer Noel Cutajar repre- sented Cauchi. The client returned the car after a few months and asked for it to be repaired after it developed problems. But when his request was not entertained Cauchi stopped making monthly re- payments. The company sold the car again to a third party, who also returned it back because of defects that emerged. The judge expressed hope the car will remain in the company's warehouse. A court-appointed expert had deemed the car not to be roadworthy, noting that the latent defects it had could not have been noticed by an ordi- nary individual. No Deposit Cars had asked the court to order Cauchi to pay it the outstanding bal- ance due to it on the car, which was initially calculat- ed at €17,800. The balance was subsequently reduced to €12,000. However, Mr Justice Abela threw out the company's re- quest and ruled the company acted in a fraudulent manner when drawing up the con- tract. "As a result of this judgment the bills of exchange have lost all strength at law," the judge ruled, effectively cancelling the contract and any money owed. No Deposit Cars has been in the news over its dubious business practices. The company sells sec- ond-hand cars without asking clients to fork out a deposit. However, their contracts stipulate that the company has the right to take posses- sion of the sold vehicle if the individual misses one pay- ment. Several customers have come forward complaining on the inferior quality of the cars sold to them. Customers took the compa- ny to court earlier this year for a series of complaints, including unfair terms in the hire purchase contracts and the inclusion of GPS tracking devices in the vehicles. Last month, Magistrate Elaine Rizzo ordered a mag- isterial inquiry into accusa- tions of serious crimes, in- cluding kidnapping, money laundering, theft and stalking involving persons connected to No Deposit Cars Ltd. The magisterial inquiry will investigate the company and its representatives Christian Borg, Joe Camenzuli, Luke Milton, Thorne Mangion, James Spiteri and Tyson Grech. In a separate case, Borg, Grech, Milton and Mangion, along with two other associ- ates, Jeremy Borg and Burton Azzopardi, are facing charges of abducting a panel beater and severely beating him in 2022. All five have denied the charges. Christian Borg, owner of No Deposit Cars (Photo: Facebook)