Your own claim: the letter, the evidence, the steps

You don't have to wait for anyone. This pack is for one owner dealing with one dealer and GWM under the Australian Consumer Law. It is general information written by owners, not legal advice; a fixed-fee consumer lawyer or community legal centre can check your specific position before you send anything.

How it works, in one paragraph

Every car sold by a business comes with a guarantee of acceptable quality (ACL s 54) that sits above GWM's warranty and cannot be excluded. If the failure is major (a reasonable consumer who knew its full nature and extent would not have bought the car; or it can't be fixed easily within a reasonable time; or it's unsafe), you choose the remedy under s 259(3): reject the car for a refund or replacement, while the "rejection period" is still open, or keep it and be compensated for the reduction in its value. Either way you can also recover reasonably foreseeable losses (s 259(4)). The refund is owed by the business that sold you the car; damages for reduction in value can also be claimed against GWM as the importer and deemed manufacturer (ss 271–272), and that claim runs for three years from when you became aware of the failure (s 273). Several smaller failures can add up to a major failure. Tribunals can order the dealer to refund; they generally cannot order the manufacturer to.

Timing is the whole game. The right to reject only lasts for the period in which the failure could reasonably be expected to show up (s 262), and tribunals expect you to act without undue delay once you know. On an older, higher-kilometre car the fight will be about whether that period has closed, which is why the letter below claims in the alternative for compensation, which has no such problem. And the moment you accept an engine replacement without reserving your rights, you have arguably chosen repair as your remedy. Send the letter before the engine goes in.

Step 1 — Gather the evidence

Paper you already have

Purchase contract or tax invoice: price, date, and the dealer's legal name and ABN (the entity you claim against).
Complete service history: invoices or logbook stamps. This defeats the "you didn't service it" defence.
Oil consumption test records: start and end odometer for each interval, oil added, dates, who signed them. Your own oil log sits beside these as supporting evidence.
Every email, text and letter from the dealer and GWM, including case or reference numbers.

Paper to create now

If a promise or decision was verbal, confirm it in an email the same day: "Confirming our conversation on [date] that GWM will replace the engine at no cost because of excessive oil consumption."
A dated log: each call, who you spoke to, what was said. Note especially any statement that a warranty repair is your only remedy.
Receipts for oil, diagnosis, hire cars, towing, and a count of days the car was off the road.
Two written trade-in appraisals (one from a non-GWM dealer) recording the reason for a refusal or low offer, beside a Redbook or carsales value for a clean example. That turns "I can't sell it" into a number.
An independent automotive engineer's or workshop report saying the consumption is an inherent defect, not neglect. Ask for a fixed price up front; it is worth it once a tribunal is likely.

Step 2 — Send the letter

Send it to the dealer that sold you the car (the "supplier"), and copy GWM Australia's customer relations team with your case number. Email is fine; keep a copy. Yellow parts are yours to fill in; blue parts are optional or a choice.

[Your full name] [Your address] [Email] · [Phone] [Date] To: [Dealer principal or customer relations manager], [Dealership legal name, ABN], [address or email] Copy: GWM Australia Customer Relations, case [reference number] Re: [Year] [Model and variant], VIN [VIN], registration [rego], purchased [date] for $[price] — failure to comply with the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality, Australian Consumer Law s 54 I purchased the above vehicle [new] from you on [date] for $[price]. It has now travelled [odometer] km. The vehicle's engine consumes excessive oil. [Set out the facts in order: when you first noticed it and at what odometer; what you measured; the oil consumption test dates and results, e.g. "your oil consumption test recorded 1.4 litres consumed over the 1,000 km between [date] and [date]"; and what you have been told, e.g. "on [date] GWM approved replacement of the engine" or "on [date] the claim was refused because ..."] [If it applies: The same defect is widely reported by owners of this model, and I have been unable to sell or trade the vehicle at a reasonable price because of it.] This is a failure to comply with the guarantee of acceptable quality in section 54 of the Australian Consumer Law. It is a major failure within section 260: a reasonable consumer fully acquainted with the nature and extent of the failure would not have acquired the vehicle[, and the vehicle is substantially unfit for its ordinary purpose and cannot easily and within a reasonable time be remedied]. [If there have been other faults: Taken together with the other failures listed in the attachment, the failures as a whole are a major failure.] [CHOOSE ONE OF THE TWO PARAGRAPHS BELOW AND DELETE THE OTHER] [A — reject the car] Under section 259(3) I reject the vehicle and, under section 263(4), I elect [a refund of the purchase price of $[price] / a replacement vehicle of the same type and similar value]. The vehicle is available for collection from [address] at your expense, and I require the refund within 14 days of the date of this letter. I also claim under section 259(4) my reasonably foreseeable losses caused by the failure, itemised in the attachment. [B — keep the car and be compensated] Under section 259(3)(b) I will keep the vehicle and require compensation for the reduction in its value below the price paid, together with my reasonably foreseeable losses under section 259(4), itemised in the attachment. In the alternative, and without limiting the above, I give notice to GWM Australia, as the importer and deemed manufacturer of the vehicle, that I claim damages under sections 271 and 272 of the Australian Consumer Law for the reduction in the vehicle's value and for my reasonably foreseeable losses. [If a repair or engine replacement has been offered or is under way:] My acceptance of any repair or engine replacement in the meantime is under reservation of all of the rights set out above, and is not an election to keep the vehicle or to accept repair as the remedy. Please confirm in writing within 14 days how you will resolve this. If I do not receive a satisfactory response I will lodge a complaint with [your state's fair trading body] and, if necessary, apply to [your state's tribunal or court] naming [dealer] as respondent and joining GWM Australia, and I will report the matter to the ACCC. I note that under section 274 a supplier is entitled to be indemnified by the manufacturer for this claim. Yours faithfully, [Name] Attachments: purchase contract; service history; oil consumption test records; correspondence with the dealer and GWM; itemised losses; trade-in valuations[; engineer's report].

Step 3 — Escalate if the 14 days pass

Two tracks, run together: your state's fair trading body offers free conciliation (it can't force an outcome, but a good number of disputes are settled at this stage), and the ACCC needs to hear from you even though it won't run your individual case. If conciliation fails, the tribunal or court is where a refund can be ordered against the dealer.

State	Fair trading (free conciliation)	Tribunal or court
QLD	Office of Fair Trading	QCAT motor vehicle dispute — claims up to $100,000; filing fee about $405 for claims over $10,000; a vehicle assessment fee of up to $1,200 may be split between the parties.
NSW	NSW Fair Trading	NCAT motor vehicle claim — check the current limit.
VIC	Consumer Affairs Victoria	VCAT — goods and services claims.
SA	Consumer and Business Services	Magistrates Court — civil claims; check the minor claims limit.
WA	Consumer Protection WA	Magistrates Court — civil claims; check the limit.
TAS	Consumer, Building and Occupational Services	Magistrates Court — civil division; check the limit.
ACT	Access Canberra	ACAT — civil disputes; check the limit.
NT	NT Consumer Affairs	NTCAT — check the limit.

Report to the regulator as well: ACCC — cars and vehicles. The ACCC's own motor vehicle sales and repairs guide is worth attaching to your letter; it states plainly that for a major failure the consumer chooses the remedy.

Name the dealer as the respondent and apply to join GWM. A tribunal can order the dealer to refund; a claim for a refund made against the manufacturer alone usually fails.

The official forms

These are the actual documents, so nobody has to hunt for them. Fair-trading complaints are free. Tribunal applications carry a fee and, in Queensland and New South Wales, a specific motor vehicle form.

Who	Form	Notes
ACCC	Report a consumer issue	Online, free. The ACCC does not resolve individual complaints; your report adds to the pattern it acts on. Mention that you are on this register.
QLD Office of Fair Trading	Make a consumer complaint	Online, free, in writing. Attach your letter and the dealer's reply, or note that none came within 14 days.
QCAT	Form 59: Application, motor vehicle dispute (PDF)	Fee about $405 for claims over $10,000. Attach the contract, an ASIC search of the dealer, the correspondence and any expert report. The form warns that an expert report you hold but do not attach may not be usable later.
NSW Fair Trading	Lodge a general consumer complaint	Online through Service NSW, free.
NCAT	Motor vehicle consumer claim application (PDF)	Lodge and pay through NCAT Online or at a registry. The claim must be against the business that sold the car, not a private seller.
Consumer Affairs Victoria	Resolve your problem or complaint	Free. CAV expects you to have written to the business first.
VCAT	Goods and services claims	Applications are made online through VCAT; car disputes go to the Civil Claims List.

Other states and territories: use the fair-trading and court links in the table above. Every application asks for the same core bundle, which is why Step 1 matters: contract, service history, test records, correspondence, itemised losses, valuations, and an oil log if you have kept one.

What wins and what loses

Do

Put everything in writing and keep copies.
Act as soon as you know the failure is serious. Delay is the most common reason owners lose.
Give the dealer reasonable time to diagnose, and keep servicing the car on schedule.
Keep the car driveable: top up, keep receipts, log the kilometres.
Get any "goodwill" or buyback offer in writing before you respond, and read any release before you sign it.

Don't

Don't refuse a repair outright while pursuing a refund; accept it under the reservation of rights in the letter. Refusing can be argued as failing to mitigate your loss.
Don't accept "a warranty repair is your only remedy". That statement was central to the Mazda penalty.
Don't seek a refund from GWM alone at a tribunal; the dealer is the one who can be ordered to refund.
Don't modify the engine or let the car sit unserviced; both hand the other side an argument.
Don't rely on this page as legal advice. It is a starting point written by owners.

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