Those R699 cars and YapYap car deals: same-same but different?

According to a consumer who recently took up one of these incredible offers, she is now stuck with a monthly instalment of R2808 per month and a 40% residual payment at the end of her installment term.

This was just one of the complaints featured on the HelloPeter website about YapYap Car Deals.

The consumer claims that after she was approved for the car, a representative from the company took her to a car dealer and told her not to tell the dealership staff of the deal with YapYap, as they had special deals in place.

After various interruptions from the YapYap representative, the consumer signed the agreement in the end and left with her car, but she says she did not end up with the deal she applied for. Now she owes the bank, but cannot simply return the car because her family needs the transport, she claims.

If all this sounds familiar, it is probably because we have seen it before, in the form of the Satinsky R699 per month car scheme, which cost thousands of consumers loads of money a few years ago.

Some of the cars in this new deal, were financed by Nedbank that said in a statement that after the Satinsky R699 scheme collapsed very publicly in 2014, MFC, a division of Nedbank, implemented early detection warnings to prevent future schemes of this nature from impacting our consumers and its brand.

“The early warnings were triggered when the first complaint arose from one of our clients. Upon investigation, MFC determined that the same individual that had orchestrated the R699 scheme was yet again at the helm of a new finance car scheme called YapYap.

“YapYap Car Rentals is not authorised to solicit, engage or represent MFC in any way when a consumer intends to apply for and conclude a vehicle finance agreement. We have taken the necessary remedial steps to prevent any conduct by our authorised dealers that does not meet our high ethical standards and fully compliant credit lending criteria,” the bank said in the statement.

Another consumer complained on Hello Peter that he ended up paying R3 700 per month instead of the R2 000 per month he applied for. He was allegedly told that the company would subsidise the instalment by paying the consumer back R1 700. No refund was made, he says.

The R699 deal

The managing director of YapYap Car Deals is Albert Venter. He was in the news in 2014 when he ran Drive Car Sales, a division of the Satinsky Group of Companies. Consumers allegedly had to sign two agreements: the first to apply for bank financing and the second to accept a “rebate” for advertising the scheme on their cars, stating that you can drive a new car for only R699 per month.

They supposedly had to pay the full instalments and would then receive “rebates” from Satinsky’s overseas partner, Blue Lakes, which would effectively lower their monthly instalments. The scheme imploded when Satinsky told motorists the rebates had dried up after the company cut its ties with Blue Lakes.

YapYap Car Deals

According to the Facebook page of YapYap Car Deals, the page was created on 6 June last year. On this page, as well as the company’s website, consumers are encouraged to apply for 2020 models of a Nissan NP200 1.6 8V for R2 799 per month, a Renault Kwid 1.0 Dynamique for R1 999 per month, Toyota Etios for R2 799 per month or a Datsun Go for R2 199 per month.

The advertisements do not appear to adhere to the requirements of the National Credit Act (NCA) that regulates advertisements for credit by setting requirements for the information that must be given in these advertisements.

This includes the monthly instalment, instalment amount, number of instalments, total amount of all instalments, including interest, fees and compulsory insurance, applicable interest rate and residual or final amount.

The online application states that when you choose a car, you are required to tick that you have read, understand and accept that the “rental amount may differ from the advertised amount due to your personal risk profile, maintenance of a better and/or same credit and repayment profile on application and during the rental contract period and the successful securitization of your specified rental contract and/or a tranch of rental contracts.”

It states that securitisation rates and selection of securitisation partners is at the sole discretion of the director(s) of YapYap Car Rentals (Pty) Ltd and that the advertised deal is a “Rent to Buy option”.

The dangling carrots to entice consumers

According to the YapYap website, that entices consumers with the words “Get your new car today”, “all prices are determined by your Credit Risk Profile and Affordability”.

It goes on to say: “Each application will be approved dependent on a credit check by South African Credit Provider. You will need to provide a barcoded South African ID and a valid Driver’s License, along with proof of income. Terms and Conditions Apply.”

Then, in another tab on the website, another apparent carrot is dangled: “MAKE R9000 PLUS PER MONTH! SIGNUP TODAY! What can you do with an extra R9 000 per month?” It states that no network marketing, administration work, sales or multi-level marketing is required and all you have to do is install the app to find out more.

When you apply for one of the cars, you are required to tick that you understand and agree to the terms of a lead or referral agent for YapYap and confirm that the bank details given are correct. You also indicate that you have read the privacy policy in the application and agree that your ID number and personal information are for use by YapYap Car Rentals (Pty) Ltd t/a YapYap Cars as indicated in the Privacy Policy.

Blacklisted clients are also invited to apply and are required to:

• earn a minimum salary of R17 500 per month,
• have a disposable income to support rental of R4999 p/m or higher depending on the vehicle you want,
• had your (driver’s) license for longer than 3 years,
• be older than 25,
• be employed at the same place for the past two years,
• not be self-employed.

The website and Facebook page does not give any contact details and nobody responded to our Facebook messages for comment.

Venter’s attorney said in a response to consumer journalist Wendy Knowler on behalf of Venter that his client was under the impression that the customers concerned had come to him to rent cars.

During the first contact the clients opted not to rent a car but rather to buy one. According to the attorney Venter is not the dealer that supplies the vehicles. The leads (interested customers) were given to Group 1 Nissan the Glen and Village Auto Melkbostrand… They knew exactly what their repayments were,” the attorney said.

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