The Office of Fair Trading has produced a short information sheet for MTA Queensland members affected with the terrible weather event in North Queensland. 

We are thinking of all licensees, their families and staff who are facing the challenges of the extensive flooding in northern Queensland. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) would like to provide every assistance in dealing with normal regulatory requirements during the recovery period.

Please read this information and don’t hesitate to contact us for any advice specific to your situation if needed. Topics covered below include:

• Renewing your licence
• Trust accounts, audits and replacement documents
• Trading from another premises
• Selling water damaged vehicles
• Contacts in OFT.

Renewing your licence

If your motor salespersons certificate or motor dealers licence (for an individual) is due for renewal you can now complete this task on line. Simply go to https://www.qld.gov.au/law/fair-trading  for instructions. If however your organisational licence is due for renewal, or you do not have reliable internet access, please call OFT Licensing on (07) 3008 5802 and we can outline options, including extensions, based on your particular circumstance.

Trust account records and replacing official documents

OFT understands that crucial hard copy records may have been lost in the flood. If you operate a trust account, we would urge you to contact your auditor as soon as possible. You or your auditor can contact the OFT at financial.OFT@justice.qld.gov.au to request an extension of time for lodgement.

If you have lost your stock of approved forms, up to date forms can be accessed from the OFT website https://www.qld.gov.au/law/fair-trading.  Forms can be printed from the website and used until new stock is ordered.

If your licence or registration documentation has been destroyed or misplaced during the floods, please contact OFT licensing at IndustryLicensing@justice.qld.gov.au for a free replacement.

Trading from another premises

If your premises is so badly damaged that it is unsuitable to conduct business from, you can trade from an alternate premises. Trading premises are not required to be approved by OFT however you should advise OFT within 14 days of a change of address. To do this we would ask that you contact OFT Licensing on 13 QGOV (13 74 68) or email IndustryLicensing@justice.qld.gov.au to advise of the relocation.

Selling water damaged vehicles

There are laws which apply to the sale of water damaged vehicles.  You must not mislead consumers about the history of the vehicle.  You must tell a buyer when a motor vehicle is a:

• repairable write-off
• statutory write-off.

An auctioneer must announce at the start of an auction that a vehicle is a:

• repairable write-off and it must pass a written-off vehicle inspection
• statutory write-off and cannot be registered.

Contact OFT

Do not hesitate to contact us regarding any compliance and licensing concerns that you may have as a result of this natural disaster.

• General enquiries: Call 13 QGOV (13 74 68)
• Licence and enquiries: oftlicensing@justice.qld.gov.au
• Trust account enquiries: OFT@justice.qld.gov.au

We wish you well in the difficult months ahead.

Source: Office of Fair Trading

13 Feb 2019