A second-hand car that a man who had only recently bought for $70,000 caught fire at the carpark beside the Old Airport Road Food Centre on Friday afternoon (Aug 12).
The owner sent a clip of his burning vehicle to Sgfollowsall, writing, “I bought and collected this used MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) car a week plus ago…
How did the parked car burst into flames?”
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The clip shows a Honda in flames and black smoke coming from under its burning hood.
Shin Min Daily News reported that the owner had been walking to his car after lunch when he saw a vehicle on fire, only to realize that it was his.
The owner added that the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) firefighters soon came to put out the flames.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire.
He told the Chinese daily, “Actually after I bought the car I went overseas and only returned on the 10th.”
He had purchased the five-year-old vehicle on Aug 3 from a dealer for $70,000.
His wife had used the car for errands with no untoward incident.
The incident surrounding the car’s eruption in flames is now under investigation by the SCDF, which told AsiaOne that it had been alerted at about 3:15 pm to a fire at 51 Old Airport Road.
An agent for the dealer is quoted in AsiaOne as saying that “all vehicles undergo thorough checks to ensure that there are no issues before they are sold”.
Netizens commenting on the mishap say that the man who bought the car may be able to recoup his loss due to the “lemon law” under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA).
“The lemon law protects consumers from retailers who sell defective goods. If a defect surfaces within 6 months of purchase, it is assumed that the defect existed at the time of sale, unless the retailer can prove otherwise,” a government website concerning the CPFTA says.
One commenter wondered if it had been a case of “ghost month bad luck.”
/TISG
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