Authorities pump the brakes on used car yard after hundreds of complaints

It began with an email to A Current Affair back in 2021 about a lemon car dealer.

Four stories later, AutoMax has finally been driven out of town.

The Dandenong-based used car yard, which changed its name to United Automotive following A Current Affair's first story, has had its motor trade licence torn up by Consumer Affairs Victoria, following hundreds of complaints.

Among them are claims they never delivered cars buyers paid for and ran off with deposits after contracts were cancelled.

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In the latest case, the car yard pocketed $62,000 of 18-year-old Toby Downes' money.

He never got his dream Landcruiser.

And they never gave him his money back either.

Toby had been saving since age eight, when he started a lawn mowing business.

"My son and I were on the train going to pick the car up and they turned us around saying something happened to the car and we never heard from them again," Toby's dad Adam said.

They're the latest in a long list of customers to be duped by the car yard, which tried relentlessly (and failed) to shut down our reporting.

Sold a lemon and offered cash to stay silent

AutoMax owner Mark Rimanic has been desperate to avoid the limelight.

Instead of agreeing to be interviewed on camera and apologising to his customers, he brought in a former television news heavyweight turned public relations spin doctor to handle the crisis.

In one case, we were in the middle of filming with a car parts supplier Rimanic's business was accused of ripping off, to the tune of nearly $24,000, when Rimanic called in a panic.

Only minutes earlier, A Current Affair asked Rimanic for comment about the case.

Rimanic promised to transfer parts supplier Franky Rochetich the missing money immediately.

But Rimanic also wanted the story pulled.

The following day, one of Rimanic's workers turned up at Rochetich's workshop.

I missed a call from Rochetich.

"AutoMax turned up here personally and agreed to pay the balance as long as I called you telling you that I retract my story," he later texted me.

"They refused to pay without me calling you first."

The same worker that turned up at Rochetich's workshop called Channel 9, telling a producer that Rochetich was drafting a "retraction email" to stop the story airing that night.

Rochetich is not the only one AutoMax has tried to silence.

Rhyanna, who only wanted her first name used, had been waiting an entire year for a Jeep she was paying a loan for.

Before her story aired, Rimanic's PR spinner alerted me to an email Rhyanna had apparently sent me.

I never received it, so the PR advisor forwarded it to me.

"Sorry to do this to you," it began.

"I do not wish to proceed with the story."

I never received the email because there was a typo in my email address.

Rhyanna later explained she misspelled my email address on purpose as she actually wanted the story to proceed.

"They are now making me send you another email with them ccd (sic) in," she texted me.

"This does not mean I actually want the story pulled."

Rimanic has also been accused of listing old addresses on official business documents and failing to update the corporate regulator on his whereabouts.

It's understood ASIC is now probing those allegations, which attract hefty fines, or jail time, if proven.

Life of luxury while customers languish

For the first time, A Current Affair has obtained images of Rimanic, the highly private man behind the AutoMax empire.

Pictures posted to social media by his new wife show him living a life of luxury in recent years, globetrotting from Croatia to Italy, and enjoying a white Christmas in Whistler.

He also re-married in a lavish ceremony in Paris.

It's something that has drawn the ire of customers, who have accused Rimanic's business of pocketing their money and running.

Regulator failed to act quick enough: victims

Serious questions have been raised about whether Consumer Affairs Victoria failed to protect customers.

In 2022, the regulator told the ABC that 340 complaints had been lodged about AutoMax's parent company over the past six years.

A Current Affair asked Consumer Affairs Victoria what that number was now, but it declined to say, claiming it does not comment on individual businesses.

The taxpayer-funded agency also declined a request for an on-camera interview.

AutoMax customers who spoke with A Current Affair slammed Consumer Affairs for taking so long to act.

A spokesperson for the agency said it "takes reports of businesses engaging in unlawful conduct that harms consumers very seriously".

Advocacy body the Consumer Action Law Centre, has long been inundated with stories of despair from AutoMax customers.

"We made dozens of regulator complaints about this business because the conduct was so egregious," CEO Stephanie Tonkin said.

Tonkin said regulators needed stronger "laws that they can enforce".

Following the widespread scrutiny of his business, Rimanic relocated to Perth in late December.

While the cars have been trucked out of his former Dandenong yard, customer contracts and sale signs remain scattered across the now-empty showroom floor.

Whether Rimanic intends to set up shop in Perth, or continue to work in the used car industry, remains to be seen.