Ionut Nitulescu pleaded guilty to misleading a consumer about the history of a second-hand car, an offence under consumer protection law.

In a ruling at Naas District Court yesterday morning, Judge Desmond Zaidan fined Nitulescu €2,000 and ordered him to pay costs of €8,145 to the CCPC. Both sums must be paid within six months.

In addition, Nitulescuis in the process of paying €8,700 compensation to the consumer.

The CCPC prosecuted Nitulescu, formerly of John O’Donnell Motors in Kildare Town, following an investigation which established that Nitulescu had sold a vehicle to a consumer and during that transaction provided to the consumer misleading information about the car’s history.

The court heard that on 3 November 2022, the consumer purchased an Audi A4 after seeing the car advertised on DoneDeal.

After travelling to the trader’s premises to inspect the car, the consumer was given misleading information by Nitulescu in relation to the vehicle’s previous damage.

The consumer then purchased the vehicle for €8,700 after trading in his previous vehicle.

Commission member Pat Kenny said: “Consumers should always be able to rely on accurate information from car traders on a car’s history, condition and roadworthiness. Failure to disclose such information may be an offence under consumer law.

“The CCPC remains active in this sector and will continue to inspect car dealers across the country. We are committed to using all the powers available to us to challenge and take enforcement action against traders found to be misleading consumers.”