An Ottawa man is convicted of illegally selling vehicles, many of them without airbags, and buyers had no idea.
Ahmad Moussa, the sole director of Quality Motors at 1417 Cyrville Road, pleaded guilty to 36 counts of “curbsiding”, acting as dealer without registration, illegally selling vehicles to consumers.
Moussa, charged under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act enforced by the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC), was fined $40,000 and sentenced to two years of probation.
Moussa refused to speak to CTV about the conviction, instead threatening to call police if he was approached again.
Moussa had purchased vehicles that had been written off by insurance companies from salvage auctions between January 2013 and September 2016. In at least seven cases, air bags that had been deployed in crashes were never repaired before the resale.
“He was disclosing that these vehicles had been in accidents and had been repaired, but we know of at least seven vehicles where we know that after the vehicle was repaired, the airbags weren’t replaced, and buyers weren’t aware of that,” says OMVIc Director of Communications Terry O’Keefe.
O’Keefe estimates 25-percent of all on-line “for sale by owner” ads are actually curbsiders, “curbsiding is something people are becoming more aware of and the courts are becoming more concerned with.”
O’Keefe says everyone in the market for a used car should look at the warning signs of curbsiders and the risks involved with buying through an illegal dealer. OMVIC has also compiled of a list of all those who have been charged and convicted of curbsiding since 2010.
“Ask to see their OMVIC license, and if they don’t have one, run, and please report them to OMVIC.”
Moussa is prohibited from engaging in the selling of vehicles, but is still permitted to operate his repair shop.