People who bought second-hand cars in Richmond are being warned to check their records after a dealer was caught rolling back odometers.

Arthur Tong, who ran Delta Well Ltd. and New Star Motors, has been banned for life from selling vehicles.

article continues below

Tong — who operated New Star out of a unit at 4280 No. 3 Road in Richmond, near Browngate Road — was caught by the Vehicle Sales Authority of British Columbia (VSA) after a complaint was made by one of his customers.

Thirty of the customers who bought a car with adjusted mileage were given their money back after Tong was caught. In total, more than $118,000 was handed back, including four people who had their vehicles purchased back by Tong and Delta Well.

It’s understood at least nine other customers of Tong are out there unknowingly driving cars with much more mileage than they believe.

The VSA’s director of learning and communications, Doug Longhurst, said the authority only bans two or three dealers per year and sending a warning out to the public is “very rare.”

“We felt the need to do this because, although Mr. Tong is banned from operating as a dealer, we feel he may still be out there and people need to know,” added Longhurst.

Few of the cases the VSA handles, said Longhurst, involve the rolling back of odometers.

The VSA is now warning car buyers in the Richmond and Delta areas to avoid buying vehicles associated with Tong, Delta Well or New Star Motors due to the “deliberate, illegal sale of vehicles with tampered odometers.”

Tong, added the VSA, had sold these vehicles while posing as a private seller, mostly on the Internet.

Following a detailed investigation and hearing, Ian Christman, the Registrar of Motor Dealers in B.C., cancelled the dealer registration of Delta Well Ltd, New Star Motors and the salesperson licence of Tong. Tong has since been issued a lifetime ban and is to have no affiliation with a motor dealer in B.C.

During the investigation and initial suspension of Tong last fall, the VSA supervised the return of over $118,000 to 30 customers, including the buyback of two vehicles.

And in a May 24 decision, the registrar determined that, after openly admitting to routinely rolling back odometers, “Mr. Tong was not apologetic and compensated consumers only after being caught.”

It was also apparent, said the VSA, that Tong showed “no indication of remorse or any evidence of rehabilitation or insight into the impact of his actions.”

As a result, there is concern that he may continue to engage in unlawful activity as an unlicensed seller and may continue to pose harm to consumers.

The VSA is asking people who have knowledge of any current unlawful or prohibited activities by Tong, or who may have been affected by his actions in the past but were not located during the course of the investigation, to contact the VSA.

The VSA does have a limited compensation fund for others who may have been affected by Tong’s illegal sales.

More information is available online at MVSABC.com.