The applicant consumer succeeded: VCAT ordered the respondent dealer to pay $56,159.20 comprising a $39,500 refund, $6,216.05 in consequential damages, and $10,443.15 in interest, and to collect the vehicle within 28 days. The Tribunal confirmed that a consumer need not diagnose the cause of defects to establish goods are not of acceptable quality, and that workshop reports (even without their authors giving oral evidence) may constitute the best available evidence of quality where they are contemporaneous, consistent, and the supplier failed to take steps to inspect or repair. A consumer who continues to register and house a rejected vehicle pending tribunal proceedings does not thereby resile from rejection, particularly where the supplier has not accepted the rejection or collected the goods. Interest was awarded at the 10% penalty interest rate under the Penalty Interest Rates Act 1983 (Vic) from the date of rejection, as no lesser rate was advanced.
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