Man receives $23,000 in fines racked up in cars stolen from dealership before he even picked them up

A man who had two vehicles stolen from a car dealership before he even picked them up is battling a bureaucratic nightmare.

Sam Pappas and his business partner purchased two cars from a Subaru dealership in Doncaster.

The vehicles were stolen from the dealership on October 24, before he had even seen them, but they had already been registered in his name.

Now, the road infringement fines are rolling in.

So far, he’s received five fines totalling at $23,000, and he’s been told there are more on the way, but no one can tell him what to do to resolve the problem.

“We’ve spoken to the Subaru dealership at Doncaster, we’ve spoken to Subaru head office, we’ve spoken to Fines Victoria, we’ve tried to talk to VicRoads,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

Mr Pappas said he has been told to nominate a driver for each fine, but he doesn’t know who was driving the stolen cars.

“All they said was ‘fill out the nomination form,” he said.

The Subaru dealership the vehicles were purchased from assured Mr Pappas the cars would be de-registered on the day of the theft, but Mr Pappas said that didn’t happen.

“The dealership had spoken to my colleague and said they were going to de-register the vehicles on the day of the theft. They’ve failed to do that,” he said.

“For 20 days the vehicles have remained registered to us. I received confirmation that the registered vehicles had been de-registered this morning.”

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3AW Mornings contacted Fines Victoria, which has been in touch with Mr Pappas, but the issue has not yet been resolved.

Mr Pappas’ cars are two of nine vehicles stolen from the dealership last month.

Two of the stolen vehicles have now been recovered, but it is unclear if Mr Pappas’ vehicles are among those found.

A 41-year-old Dromana man, a 43-year-old Dandenong man and a 43-year-old Carrum man have been charged over the theft.

In a statement Fines Victoria said:

“When a person’s vehicle is stolen, they should report this immediately to their local Police Station.

“They will then be given an incident number by Victoria Police.

“If they receive a fine, they need to submit a nomination under the grounds of stolen vehicle and quote this incident.

“These nominations are managed by the Traffic Camera Office (TCO) division of Victoria Police.

“The TCO will then check this in their system and withdraw the fine upon confirmation that the fine was incurred during the period the car was stolen.”

Image: tap10