Man Claimed a Used Car He Bought from a Dealer Has Its Entire Engine Switched Completely

Do you know that you can swap almost every part in your car, but you can’t change the engine?

You can only do so if both engines are exactly the same, and one of the vehicles must be scrapped immediately after that—even it works perfectly.

And after the swap, the one that can remain on the road needs to be inspected by LTA, too.

While it seems restrictive, this is necessary to ensure that all vehicles on our roads are roadworthy.

So imagine your shock when you realise the car you’ve bought has a different engine…only after a few months.

Man Claims Car He Bought from Dealer Has Its Entire Engine Switched Completely

A Facebook user has the shock of his life when he realised his engine isn’t original.

In fact, it’s…more powerful.

He has bought the second-hand car, a Subaru Impreza, back in October 2018. As a first-time car owner, he didn’t check if the car engine number matches the records in LTA.

Reader Bao: Does anyone actually do that?

Actually, not that I know of.

One week after that, the air-con broke down and he fixed with his own money.

Okay, no biggie since it’s a used car so there is bound to have minor problems.

Five months later, he had to send his car for inspection as he needed to renew his road tax.

In Singapore, cars need to be inspected in an LTA inspection centre every one or two years; during the inspection, the inspectors would check whether the vehicle is roadworthy and safe. If it’s not (e.g. brakes are strong enough), the owner would have to fix the problem and go back for an inspection again unless it passes.

Usually, vehicles fail because of modified exhaust pipes (yes, that means those cars with loud exhausts usually don’t pass the inspection) or misaligned wheel alignment, which can be fixed for less than $100 from a workshop.

In fact, a workshop would be able to fix any inspection problem—some people even send their cars to a workshop before they send it to an inspection centre.

Well, except this.

The man got a shock when he was told by the inspection centre the engine number doesn’t match—the car should have a 1.6L engine, but it has a 2L engine.

This means it’s more powerful, but that’s not legal.

Cannot Be What!?

When the man bought the car, he had sent the car for an STA Evaluation.

While this sounds like it’s an authority checking the car, it isn’t: it’s just an evaluation to decide if a used car is worth buying or not (i.e. the condition of the car), with different grades: A is good, B is okay if it’s an old car, C is common for a very old car, while D should be avoided at all cost.

The man thought that going through the evaluation would mean that everything’s good to go. Unfortunately, they allegedly didn’t check the engine number.

The man did ask STA about it, and they “claimed that the technician finds it difficult to take a photo of the engine number.”

And so, with a swapped engine, the man’s nightmare began.

LTA: Scrap the Car or Replace the Engine

Remember what you read at the beginning of the article?

So LTA suggests the same thing: either he scraps the car or replaces the engine with an original one, and remember: the other car must be scrapped.

So that means might as well buy a new car.

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The man tried to find a solution but there isn’t any: not only can he not drive the car, he won’t get back any cash after scrapping it as it’s supposedly an “illegal” car.

He would have to clear the existing loan for the car before he can scrap it, and that came out to be about $14k. Including the amount he paid when the car was idling in the car park for months (he’s not supposed to drive it because it didn’t pass the inspection, so he can’t renew the insurance premium and road tax), he’s spent $23k…for nothing.

The post is a Facebook review of the car dealer.

What You Should Do to Avoid This Problem

I’m pretty sure you’re not looking to buy a car during this period, but just in case Singapore Pools suddenly reopens tomorrow and you suddenly win hundreds of thousands of dollars, here are a few tips:

• Check the car’s records and make sure it matches everything with the physical car, including the colour of the car and the engine number
• Don’t buy a car by yourself—make sure you go with someone with experience. If you walk into a car dealer alone and you’re inexperienced, the dealer might sometimes accidentally call you by your nickname: carrot head

You might want to watch this video (8 Things to Do Before Buying a Used Car in S’pore So You Won’t be Scammed) before committing to any purchase (and also please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more entertaining and informative videos):