Last winter, Tara Harper had good reason to think she was buying a safe vehicle. The used SUV had recently passed a safety inspection at a Winnipeg Canadian Tire.

But when it broke down just 20 minutes after she handed over $5,000 to the private seller in early February — the 20-year-old college student found herself with a vehicle too dangerous to drive and no recourse.

"My car just suddenly broke down in the middle of a turning lane," said Harper, who worked minimum wage jobs for more than a year to afford the 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. "I was really, really furious. It was my first car."

In a tight market, Harper first tried to buy a used car from a dealership; when that didn't work she and her dad turned to Kijiji. (Photo courtesy Paul Skirzyk)

The seller fixed the engine problem, but it made Harper question how safe the vehicle really was despite what Canadian Tire said.

So in early March, she brought the vehicle to Todd Holmes, a certified mechanic and a family friend.

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"As soon as he put it on the hoist, he told us he was going to stop right there because it was an instant fail. We shouldn't drive it," said Harper's dad, Paul Skirzyk.

The frame was corroded, Holmes said. His finding was later confirmed by Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) during a third inspection on March 30 — which a