When Alex Kisa needed a new car, he bought a 2025 Mazda 3 GX from the Olivier Mazda de Laval dealership in Quebec. “It was presented to me as new. I was under the assumption that I was buying a new car, but that was far from reality,” Kisa said, recalling his purchase in April. “They sold me a used car as new.” Kisa said the ad for the car noted it had just 10 kilometres on it, when in reality, the odometer read 295 km. Still, he bought it, thinking it was new. Shortly after, he began researching the vehicle’s history, and what he found left him stunned. “They basically drove the car for about a month and then returned it,” Kisa said. Kisa obtained two reports, one from Carfax and another from Quebec’s auto insurance board, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ). The SAAQ report showed the car was owned by another person for one month between February and March 2026. It even noted that the person bought the car “new.” The report then said that the vehicle was returned to the dealership before it was bought by Kisa. When he bought it, the SAAQ report did not mention that the car was new. “I was flabbergasted,” Kisa said. George Iny, with the Automobile Protection Association, said these situations don’t happen often. “In Quebec, if you sell a used vehicle, even a one-month-old one, it needs to have a used car label on it,” Iny said. Kisa said he tried to get compensation from the dealership, but they couldn’t come to terms, so he sent a lawyer’s letter. He said he wanted to return the car and get all his money back. He also wants $5,000 for damages. Through its lawyers, the dealership responded and offered to pay Kisa to take the car back, minus the cost of a rustproofing treatment for $399 and the $1,500 credit for his trade-in. In a statement, the law firm representing the dealership maintained that “The vehicle sold was new and that the complete history of the vehicle was provided to Mr. Kisa.” Mazda Canada told CTV News that because the matter is before the courts, it is not in a position to comment. Kisa insists he was never told about the car’s history and he would have walked away from the deal had he known the car was pre-owned. Since he can’t come to an agreement with the dealership, he said he’s prepared to go to court.
