AutoMax

Automax Cars/United Automotive - Dodgy Operators – I bought a car from Automax Cars/United Automotive in April 2024. I paid for the vehicle, including the necessary fees and motor vehicle duty for the transfer of the registration. However, they failed to transfer the registration, and DTP did not received the registration transfer fees and duty for that transaction from Automax. I have had to make… Read more

a claim on the Motor Car Traders Guarantee Fund to cover this cost ($600). I am now awaiting the outcome. Do not buy a car from Automax/United Automotive. They are dodgy AF.

Dodgy Lazy Shifty – Traded in for a cheaper car, then car was not ready for 2 weeks. When finally picked it up the radio and reverse camera screen didn't work, was told it was buyer beware by them and wasn't covered under the warranty. Who sells a car and the radio and reverse camera screen doesn't work. After what felt like forever they finally put a new radio in… Read more

BUT now they needed a pin, took another week before they organised for a place to decode the radio pin.

Also whoever does their roadworthys is very dodgy as 2 tyres were bald.

Today nearly a year later just got an email from the Department of Transport and Planning saying the car hasn't been transferred into my name, lazy, dodgy and shifty.

DO NOT BUY A CAR FROM AUTOMAX or its "new name" United Automotive.

They scammed our whole life savings – 17Sep 2024, we made our deposit, then they called us every day to ask the full fund, and said all the documents were ready , needed fund arrived in their account to transfer the car. 26Sep 2024, we made the full amount $48500 to their account. After the full fund made, they refuse to gave us the car or contact with us. Firstly, they said they… Read more

didn’t receive the fund, then they said the documents not ready, could not transfer the car. After 28 days, they still lie to us, didn’t give us the car. We sent an official email for refund, but never replied. After 44 days, they sent us a phone screenshot, said that it was their finance department remittance. Actually, it was fake, and they let me to tell them I received the refund. They didn’t make the refund at all. This is a scam from the beginning. They are not selling the car. That’s all our families savings, they ruined our family's life.

EXTREMELY HELPFUL!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!! – I applied for a car on a Saturday and a little over a week later I’m driving away with the car I wanted. They handled everything for me from finance to all the necessary car requirements, they even went above and beyond by driving out from Dandenong to Altona for me to get the paperwork signed. Would definitely go through them again for any future cars.

Love my new ride – Although I had another vehicle in mind from the yard. The one I chose is more suitable for me. I love everything about it. The experience with Automax. Was very friendly, courteous and professional. Would recommend to everyone looking for a vehicle and a good experience.

Very happy with my purchase! – Thank you so much to Pete and Jim for helping me find the right car for me and my family! Pete especially helped me find the perfect suit, Jim made sure I was happy with the sale price and even made a really good deal for the car I wanted, with an add of warranty and road side assistant to make me feel secure!! I appreciate all there help and patience with me make the right decision on the car. Thank you again!

Automax / United Automotive in the news again. BEWARE – Automax / United Automotive in the news again. And where Automax is concerned, it's never good news. Just saw this on the 9 website. https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/melbourne-dandenong-used-car-yard-melbourne-mum-write-off/2ae6f729-73bf-4ec3-bf4c-4a8421108b96 As mentioned below, they have changed their name but are still basically… Read more

the same people.

When I rang up today to AGAIN try to get my deposit back from May this year, I was told that Automax had been sold and had a new owner and name. It seems I was lied to again. As per the above report, [Name Removed] owns United Automotive. [Name Removed] was the owner of Automax.

United Automotive are now at 56 Lonsdale St, Dandenong.

Maybe I might print out all these reviews of Automax and hand them out at their new address on the weekend.

Don't be fooled ** CHANGE OF NAME ** – Be very careful! These guys no longer trade as Automax, they have since moved location and now trade as UNITED AUTOMOTIVE. Fresh new look, but same lemon cars and terrible service including keeping hold of deposits. By the looks of things, Kia Dandenong and Automax have done a swap! Purchase at your own risk!

Cheated out of $20,000 – Stay away!!!! Hope this helps someone. Would give negative stars if possible. My family and i landed from New zealand and proceeded to buy a car from them that they said was a very good car with no issues. Our first mistake was not reading the negative reviews they had as we experienced the same. So far people might have just been making… Read more

individual complaints without much evidence. I would suggest people going through similar plight as us to do this on behalf of all victorian consumers to protect ourselves from their unlawful practices. Ive included the consumers affairs link that says the organization can be fined up to 10 million dollars for all the consumer laws they are breaking, so there is hope.

1.https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/consumers-and-businesses/products-and-services/business-practices/penalties/penalties-australian-consumer-law-competition-and-consumer-act-2010-schedule-2/penalties-unfair-practices

2. https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/consumers-and-businesses/products-and-services/business-practices/advertising-and-promotions/false-or-misleading-representations

Please email Consumer@justice.gov.vic.au with all the evidence you have. If youre already stuck with them, get everything in email as they lie and intimidate throughout and not much can be done without proof.

Their lies and threats to us were as follows:

1. After test driving a vehicle, we informed them we liked it but the engine light was on and the car indicated the engine temperature was too high. [Name Removed] and [Name Removed] told us it was only a filter issue and they would deliver within 2 days.

2. They falsely advertised the car as being unregistered since 2023, when it had actually been unregistered since 2022.

3. When we asked them about it thinking it may have been a typo as we cross-referenced the VIN number with Vic Roads. [Name Removed] said they've only had the car for 3 months and the old owner would've put his number plates on and swapped out the registered number plates. We didn't know that registration was based on VIN number, and not the number plates.

4. When we realized we had a cooling off period and went to them to invoke it. [Name Removed] threatened us 'we would lose our money and our car' as he would bring us to court saying that we were not eligible for it as we had paid in full, which they had suggested to make the process easier for us. We later found this to be untrue via consumer affairs.

5. We were refused opportunity to inspect our car twice after they had initially agreed and had to cancel bookings with our mechanics.

(As they had lied multiple times and we had no evidence except for recorded conversations with other organizations like independent mechanics and correspondence with our bank, we stopped phone and verbal conversations and said we will only correspond via email.)

6. After being sure there was something wrong with the car as they kept pushing the delivery date back by 3 times over 2 weeks. We requested for a replacement car or refund both of which they refused.

7. We terminated the agreement with them and asked for a refund but they insisted the car was of good quality

(They are somehow able to issue their own rwc and when we checked vicroads, rwc does not mean the car is mechanically reliable, which is what they falsely claim)

10. At a later inspection by a private mechanic, the car was found to be not in drive away condition and summarized the car's condition as poor. We have report and photo evidence including possible tampering with the car's electronic codes. We declined to provide them with the report as we will be using it as evidence at VCAT and in our submission to consumer affairs as requested.

We have since refused to take delivery of the car, and they are outright denying us a refund even after we have terminated the agreement.

Consumer affairs has asked us to email them the evidence to the e-mail above, and have told us that they collect data and can take action on the organization when they have enough data.

They owe my sister $2500, 2 months overdue. Not a good business – They owe my sister $2,500, now 2 months overdue. I will edit the review when they fix their errors, the money is simply not yours, too much time has passed. The story would be worthy of news headlines, and she will have enough support to make that happen. So why dont you do the act of a decent person and correct it. Today. Her Name - Natasha G. A loan placed for a car this year. $2500, 2 months overdue. Refund the money.

Automax car dodgy car yard Dandenong – My husband and i decided to leave Qld in 2020 to start a fresh life and thought we would get ourselves a newer second hand car after owning our previous car for 16yrs so we decided to go to Auto Max in Dandenong we were approved for a loan and found the holden calai which looked like a great car more fool us the are disrespectful and very rude on… Read more

e we picked up the car in August 2022 we find out a few months later the front doors had water in them because the rubbers were not put in properly but they refused to look now the roof lining is felling down the whole car is [Content Removed] we are paying a $16,000 loan and can't afford a new car or to fix it we are both on disability and my husband is my full time carer please don't go to this car yard i want to find others ban together and fix this once and for all My contact email is [Content Removed] Please contact me as i have told A current affair and they are very interested lets make this happen thanks

Automax Dandy Worst Car Dealer – Worst first car experience Bought a car from Automax Dandy last year roughly June/July, mind you I had to wait an entire month before I could pick it up... First day of driving the car engine light comes on so taken it back the next day to get sorted. They just cleared the codes and didn't fix the problem (problem found later), engine light came… Read more

back on 2 days later so I took it too mechanic friend to get sorted. Found out the car was previously tuned to stage 2/3, it had performance parts installed in the car before it was at dealership and the car had been tampered with while being at automax. They stripped all the performance parts out of the car and replaced with stock/ wrong model parts some of which were forced into positioning and glued together. The airbox that they replaced into the car didn't have a filter inside nor was it serviced when I got it. It had a drive shaft issue which they said they would resolve... they refurbished the drive shaft which ended up breaking into 2 pieces. Boost leaking problems that I had to solve myself when it never had the problem when I first drove it Also they said they replaced an engine mount because they saw it was going to go.... it was sprayed black too look new and guess what my engine fell out of the bay not once but twice Now I'm still trying to get my car fixed and back on the road and it's been 7 months with the car, I have the 1 year warranty on my car but Automax doesn't want to take car of the car anymore and to be honest I don't want their dodgey work on my car anymore DO NOT BUY FROM AUTOMAX DANDENONG

Still dodgy.And ill keep updating,editing so everyone sees – Deposit not refunded.Avoids all communication.Dodged all phone calls and emails about said deposit refund.A good sales person would find out why you didnt want the vehicle and try to get you into another,not ignore you.

Scamming Terrible Car dealer, Go somehere else – A friend bought a car which wasnt ready for several weeks then broke down immediately, asked for money back with no result, see you in court

The worst dealership I’ve ever encountered – Avoid AUTOMAX at all cost. Made a $500 deposit and never got it back and they claim that because I gave them a bad review therefore they may have to rethink about giving me a refund. Rubbish customer service. Crap company. Hope you guys won’t make it for long.

Still refuses refund after Justice Department intervention – The worst most dishonest dealers I've ever met. After my deposit refund was refused I had the Victorian Justice department intervene. They advised Automax they had broken the Law. Still no refund. After reading the other reviews it is time these dealers lost their licence

STAY AWAY – DONT DO IT. THIS WAS A NIGHTMARE. I regret buying with them. We traded in our car and purchased from them and this is how it went. We had completed the trade and had the new car in our possession. However, I had no cars in my name. I had 2 x loans in my name. Which I was paying for. I called, they said it can take 14 days to fix it (it had… Read more

already been 2 weeks)

I realised a loan payment for my old car had come out. In good faith, i left it. (Mistake)

A second payment came out the following month.

At this stage I had paid my loan twice and the loan of the new car once.

I called and was assure it would be sorted in a few days and the payments would be put back in my account.

It did not.

At this stage it's about 6 weeks post Sale and I now have 2 Loans and 1 car that has been driven 3 times.

I take it for a drive and realised there is an odd feel too it. I take it back home and find that none of the bolts have been tensioned on all 4 of the wheels and the front left wheel was just resting on the studs.

I call to discuss because I now have a butchered rim. I am told that someone else likely loosened them. At this point I'm over it, they offered a "complientary" service but the damage is done. I tell them to just sort out the finance issues and we are not taking our car back to them. I was assured it would be resolved by that coming Wednesday. (This was on a saturday).

Wednesday comes and goes. I watch until Thursday to allow for banking transfer times and with no resolution still I decided to call again.

I speak to finance because Paul and Jim are longer available because they are with "customers".

I then get told they could never refund because they didn't have my bank details (these were given upon point of sale).

I email then timestamped events email with my bank details and threaten to take it to the regulatory authorities. The money was then transferred within an hour. The loan however stayed in my name for another 2-3 weeks.

It's over now. I say again, it was a nightmare. Various calles and emails and it took about 8 weeks to be resolved.

Worst experience, absolute scammers – Update to previous review: Now found a leakage in engine too and none of the issue addressed previously were solved by them. I have emailed them the quotes as they promised before i deleted my last review. So key points: -stay away from these scammers -If u have no other option please don’t give them a single penny before u get the car inspected… Read more

from your own mechanic and get it fixed before any deposit -i hope this will save someone’s hard earned money.

Don’t buy from these scammers! I bought jeep wrangler from these guys, found floor wet which they said its cos they left window opened which was lie because i found leakage in the roof. Actuator making noise which mechanic said needs replaced, they gave me 12 month’s warranty, trying to ring they from last 2 days, putting call on hold, now they know my number so not even picking up my calls, please don’t even visit this dealership they are most disrespectful and unprofessional specially Jim if anyone dealt with him. Don’t pay any money until u get the vehicle inspected by your own mechanic.

Stay a way they are worst scammers.! – I would not recommend this place to anybody. brought Benz 4 weeks ago. I got full checkup from dealer. Found a fault in add blue injector. went workshop, Ower phoros, didn't know it under roadworthy or not kept my car 2 days then told me part wasn't available in Australia. Need to order from Germany. then I found it available in Lavaton. didn't… Read more

repair the car. Then I complaint to VicRoads. do not buy any car from them, if you buy it check with independent technician. when I see my sells parson Phill, told me to go workshop. then he said I can't do anything ..That how they work...

Absolutely not recommend this dodgy company – Absolutely not recommend this dodgy company. The staff specifically Phil, Jim and Paul are incredibly unprofessional. They want only money and provide no customer service after stealing money from their customers. If you value your money like me do not go with them. They don’t value our money or time, I signed my contract May the 4th and they got… Read more

the money (full amount) from the finance company on the 9th of May but unfortunately until today they have failed to deliver the car to me working. The car was faulty even when they sold it to me, I made a complaint to the AAAC and consumer affairs and now it has gone to VCAT for cancellation of contract but this dodgy company still claimed they are repairing the car and that they can’t cancel the contract, what a nice story. I am not stopping this and I am calling current affairs in regards to it. Please if you have similar problems contact consumers affairs and AAAC to protect future customers from them.

Shady Business – Deliberately withheld a deposit refund due to a previous 1 star review and implied they would not return it until the review was removed The money has now been refunded (due to blackmail) so I am now reviewing again 1 star because they, although not directly, implied that the money would not be returned and that they would be happy to go through… Read more

the long legal process instead

the owner/manager, whatever he wants to call himself as he changed what his title was multiple times is quite rude and unprofessional

Sensational – Very good service from Phil I was really happy with the outcome

Perfect perfect perfect – I had a wonderful time purchasing my car at automax, Phillip helped me so much with the details of everything to do with purchasing and choosing the best car for my needs, will definitely be recommending to family and friends

Not happy – Took car off the car yard,3 days later engine light on,$3000 repair job,trying to get someone on the phone is ridiculous