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Information for motor car traders and people applying to work in customer service

Motor Car Trading In Victoria 

The law prevents a licensed motor car trader from employing certain people in a ‘customer service capacity’, unless the Business Licensing Authority (BLA) gives permission.

You are not allowed to work in customer service if you:

• Have had a claim admitted against you or a company run by you by the Motor Car Traders Guarantee Fund
• Within the last 10 years, have been found guilty or convicted of an offence involving fraud, dishonesty, drug trafficking or violence, for which a court could sentence you to up to three months imprisonment or more (even if you were not actually sentenced to imprisonment)
• Are disqualified from holding a motor car trader’s licence, or from being employed by a motor car trading business.

This applies to any job that requires an employee to deal with members of the public who are buying, selling or exchanging motor cars or seeking to buy, sell or exchange motor cars.

Traders and employees who breach these restrictions may face significant fines. An ineligible person can apply to the BLA for permission to work in a customer service capacity. Permission must be obtained before commencing employment. An employer can ask the BLA if a prospective employee has permission.

You must give your prospective employer a completed Form 3, 'Notice to Motor Car Trader by Prospective Person Employed in a Customer Service Capacity', before you start work.

You must also:

• Give your motor car trader employer a copy of a police records check that is not more than six months old, or
• Get a police records check and give it to your employer within six weeks of the date that you start work.

If you do not provide these documents, you cannot work in a customer service capacity in motor car trading.

Motor Car Traders (employer)

When recruiting to a customer service position:

• carefully examine the completed Form 3 before employing or transferring the person
• review the police records check prior to employment or within six weeks of when they start work.

If you employ the applicant, keep a copy of the completed Form 3 for seven years from the date they signed the declaration.Do not send a copy to the BLA.

You face a fine of more than $5000 for employing a person in a customer service capacity without a completed Form 3.

Existing employees do not have to provide a Form 3 or a police check until they change roles or employers. For example, an existing employee changing from an administrative job to a sales role after 1 December 2008 must complete Form 3 and get a police check. 

For more information, contact the BLA.