Mr WHETSTONE: Yes. I bring this to the chamber's attention, because who knows if it is not happening? Some of the more historical cars, some of those older cars, are starting to become quite valuable. Anything with a steel bumper bar in today's automotive circle of sales or repairs is usually worth a lot more than it was when it was brand new.
The oxyacetylene steering repair: we have heard abound steering joints, suspension joints and all sorts of joints that wear. In a lot of instances, rather than repair them, some mechanical workshops might run a line of weld around that joint. It tightens it up. It tightens the play out of the joint, and so that is also something that I have witnessed. It is not something I have undertaken personally, but I have seen the end result.
An Ajax recon: in some of the older engines, either where the bores glaze or they are worn out, I have seen what happens when you tip Ajax down the carburettor. It deglazes the bore. It also makes a worn piston ring bed in, and it helps to stop the smoke blowing. Believe it or not, it is a true thing.
When we have to fix windowsills or we have to fix water leaks or we have to fix issues with incoming dirt and dust in some of those vehicles, there is nothing like a good tube of Silastic that would fix that up.
The other thing is, when people come in and ask for a 'trip to the Bar's', you would say, 'What is he going on about?' That is normally about fixing water leaks—a leaky water pump, a corroded manifold, that type of thing. It is amazing what Bar's Leak will do. Bar's Leak has been a renowned product for many decades in fixing that.
A hot dump: a hot dump is something that has been used by particular car yards when they are looking to lower a vehicle. It is called an oxyacetylene torch on a coil spring, and they drop the vehicle down to whatever height is desired. That is what is called a hot dump. Normally, a set of mags and a hot dump and you have a car that is looking pretty good. It is what it is.
I really do think that a majority of those exercises are a sign of the past. If I am ever speaking to young ones and they are looking to buy a vehicle and ask, 'What are the signs that I should be looking for if I am looking for a car that has been looked after?', I would say those signs of age. Make sure it has a logbook. If it has not got a logbook, there is usually a reason for that. That means there is a non-compliant service history or it is a non-compliant speedometer.
If you see excessive wear on the gear knob or steering wheel, they usually indicate to you that the car has had a significant amount of use and wear. If it does not correlate with the speedometer or the condition of the car, you can normally be suspicious that things have been played with. Undercarriage damage is something that people should be aware of, whether it has been dented or damaged, whether it has run up over gutters or run into high bollards—that type of thing. That normally means that the car has had significant structural damage.
I bring that to the attention of some of the members here today just so we can understand that there are people out there who have underhanded ways of deceit, behaving dishonestly. Someone is the recipient of those actions. My very first car was an EH Holden. It was an S4. I was very proud of that. It was baby blue with a white roof. It was a Bathurst EH. It was a 179 h.p. with a high-compression head, dual carburettors—
The Hon. N.D. Champion: Worth a fortune.
Mr WHETSTONE: It is worth a fortune today, yes. It came out with a cast exhaust manifold, and it was almost like a set of headers. Back in that day, it was regarded as a great car, but it was never regarded as a collector's item as it would be today. I bought that car in good faith. I was told it had never been to the crash shop and all the rest of it. But by the time I had done an inspection, paid the money and all the rest of it, it had a lot of filler in the doors and all sorts of things—rust, if you like.
That was a very steep learning curve for me as a young fella. I got my licence on my 16th birthday, and I was out to rock the world in my brand new acquisition. Over time, I have been quite fortunate, as have a lot of people. Back in those days, whether you had a little Torana XU-1 or a Monaro with a small-block Chev in it, manual—
Mr Teague: LJ?
Mr WHETSTONE: I had an LC. Over time, through my times in workshops, I had a lot of imported cars. It gave me an understanding that not all is what it looks to be on the outside of a car. They can put a lot of polish and paint on a piece of junk and make it look good, but at the end of the day, you have got to be on your game. If you are not, if you have not sought advice, if you have not sought an inspection, I would urge any young person, any person who is in the market for a car, to do so. That is the first port of call.
This legislation is going to increase penalties for dealers without licences, interfering with cars illegally—deception, I call it. Customers go to a dealer for some level of reliability. They go there with a level of trust, and I think it is only fair that these second-hand dealers do exactly that. I am happy to keep going.
The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Odenwalder): It seemed like you were about to seek leave, but you can keep going. You have four minutes left on the clock, member for Chaffey. I am easy either way. I do not make the rules here.
Mr WHETSTONE: I will keep going; that will streamline the process somewhat. The bill introduces new sections to prohibit false and misleading statements regarding odometers. I think it is very hard to justify someone tampering with an odometer. That is why I say that you have to read the car with your eyes. You have to look at telltale signs or giveaway signs that will tell you that the car has had excessive use or has a chequered history with maintenance. Making sure that a car has a logbook is probably the best form of security that you are getting what you are paying for.
The bill increases privacy for those selling vehicles to dealerships in regard to the display of the names and addresses of previous vehicle owners. I do not agree with that, but I guess for the seamless passage of this amendment, it is something that I would have to run with. To not display the former owner usually gives a pretty good indication that it could have been a hire-car company, or it could have been someone in a faraway place or state. You would lose that understanding of where the car has been and what sort of a life it has had. You can normally tell by what the underbody looks like if it has been on excessively rough and dirt roads.
We need to understand that consumers need a greater level of comfort when they are out there looking to buy a car, particularly for our young ones. They need a car that is safe that potentially will be reliable and, for a car to be safe, it has to have some level of assurance that it has not been tampered with in some of those ways that I have explained in my contribution.
We must make sure that the responsibility on the dealership is front and centre. I think it is also up to the dealer to be forthcoming with answers to any questions asked of them about the history of the car; I think the dealer has a responsibility to do that. I have seen a lot of people lose all of their money on cars that are almost worthless that they have paid a lot of money for, and it really does break one's heart.
I know that the minister is here. He has quite an interest in historic muscle cars. They are a thing of the future. We here today all look at those cars and see what we used to drive as young ones, and it really does warm the cockles of my heart to think that we have politicians who are prepared to go out and buy cars of notoriety, cars with steel bumper bars, cars with V8s, manual gearboxes—
The Hon. N.D. Champion: You'll be chasing me in the Camaro.
Mr WHETSTONE: Yes, and there will be a Camaro sitting in my driveway sometime soon, I am hoping. I do support the amendment bill. I do hope that people treat buying a car with a great deal of professionalism so that they can get good value for money and make sure that they have a car that is safe and worthy to drive on our roads.
