A Cape Town engineer has taken a dispute with WP Motors to the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa after claiming that a 2021 Toyota GR Yaris he bought for about R600,000 was sold with serious defects.

The Toyota GR Yaris unroadworthy dispute centres on claims of worn tyres, exhaust fumes entering the cabin, an aftermarket exhaust system, and an alleged roadworthy certificate error. WP Motors denies that it knowingly sold an unsafe vehicle and says it offered to address the buyer’s concerns.

Buyer claims safety defects were present at delivery

Moksham Soundarajan bought the 2021 Toyota GR Yaris from WP Motors in July 2025. He traded in his 2019 Honda CR-V as part of the deal, which the dealership later sold while the dispute continued.

Soundarajan said the Toyota GR Yaris had tyres worn “to the canvas” and a cracked aftermarket exhaust system. He said fumes entered the cabin during a roughly 400km trip from Cape Town to Mossel Bay soon after he took delivery.

“There was a lot of misrepresentation from the dealership,” he said, adding that the car had no spare wheel or repair kit and that there was a 1,129km difference between the advertised and delivered mileage.

He also claimed that a regional manager at DEKRA admitted in writing that the Roadworthy Certificate had been issued in error. According to Soundarajan, the same admission stated that the dealership knew the tyres had to be replaced before delivery.

WP Motors says it offered to resolve concerns

WP Motors owner Phillip van der Merwe denied that the dealership sold the car in a defective state. He said the vehicle was in “immaculate condition” when it was delivered to Soundarajan.

Van der Merwe said the buyer only noticed the exhaust issue hundreds of kilometres later. He added that WP Motors consulted Toyota and was advised that a welding repair would be enough because the issue was minor and located on a weld spot.

Soundarajan rejected that explanation. He said Toyota had not recommended welding an aftermarket exhaust and argued that the aftermarket part had not been disclosed in the purchase agreement.

The dealership said it does not issue roadworthy certificates directly. Van der Merwe said “human error” may have occurred in relation to the tyres and that WP Motors offered to resolve the tyre and exhaust concerns once it became aware of them.

Ombudsman process and previous tribunal case

The matter is now before MIOSA. Van der Merwe said WP Motors was open to settlement, but that proposals had not been accepted by Soundarajan’s legal representatives. Soundarajan disputed the dealership’s version and said he referred the case to MIOSA after settlement talks reached a deadlock.

The Toyota GR Yaris unroadworthy dispute follows a separate National Consumer Tribunal matter involving WP Motor Sales. In that case, the National Consumer Commission said the Tribunal fined WP Motor Sales R200,000 and ordered refunds after findings against the dealership.

The Tribunal judgment states that Fernell Waydon Pretorius bought a vehicle from WP Motor Sales on 17 January 2020 for R276,607.49, and that the vehicle suffered engine failure two days later while being driven from Cape Town to Heidelberg.

South Africa’s Department of Transport says a vehicle must be tested for roadworthiness before it is registered in a new owner’s name. That requirement adds wider consumer-safety context to the Toyota GR Yaris unroadworthy dispute.