I purchased a 2008 Honda CRV less than a month ago and felt it shaking every time it hit a bump in the road. Took i back to the dealer and he said strut and sway bar need replacing (it has 77,000 miles on it) and they weren’t going to pay for that to be repaired. Should this be covered by the NYS Used Car Lemon Law.
Offhand, it sounds like you’re out of luck. Note page 5, section 15. The wording is a little ambiguous with the “at least” part, but…
It’s also dependent upon the vehicle mileage and time.
Just my 2 cents, but I think the use of the phrase “Lemon Law” is really not applicable when it comes to used cars. The reason being is that so may so-called Lemon issues are due to normal wear and tear, environment, abusive driving, lack of maintenance, etc.
Thanks for the comments, but keep in mind I only had vehicle for 3 weeks and put about 500 miles on it since the purchase.
What warranty came with the car? As is, drive train only or unlimited bumper to bumper ? A 6+ year old used car will have wear and tear on it. Did you have a mechanic inspect it before you purchased it?
With that additional information, it sounds like the dealer quite possibly knew about the suspension noises when they sold the car
That is . . . if they even bothered to drive it before putting it up for sale
It’s also entirely possible they just smogged it, cleaned it, detailed it, and put it up for sale
I believe most used cars are sold as is
That’s why it’s always a good idea to have a pre-purchase inspection performed on a used vehicle before buying it.
The $100.00 inspection fee could save hundreds/thousands of dollars in repairs later.
Tester
After reading the comments, now I am sorry I didn’t ask Car Talk first. Guess it’s too late for the prepurchase inspection now, thought I could trust this large dealer to be honest about the vehicle, how “silly” of me.
Did you try talking to a manager?
@joyjer
Look at it like this . . . struts and sway bar links aren’t the end of the world. it’s an easy repair, and any decent shop can do it
If the diagnosis is correct, I highly advise complete strut assemblies, meaning the strut, mount, and spring are assembled, and ready to be installed. Do all 4 corners, and you’ll be good to go for several more years
Some of the brake lines may have to be disconnected to replace the struts, so you’ll need a brake fluid flush
Afterwards, you’ll want to get a 4 wheel steering alignment
It’s possible also that the car was in a front-end accident and subsequently repaired. Some accidents will cause alignment/suspension problems that don’t get completely fixed and result in driveability problems as you describe.
I would have a Carfax report run on it. Carfax doesn’t know everything about every car, but if this car has been in a significant accident and subsequently repaired, there’s a good chance it would show up on the report. You may not have any recourse from the dealer, but at least you will know more than you did when you bought the car. And if a new strut/sway bar doesn’t fix the problem, you’ll know why. An alignment shop might be able to help with a diagnosis if the dealer fix doesn’t work.
Take it to another shop for a second opinion. They they agree, let them fix it. That way you won’t reqard the selling dealer for what appears to be poor attention to a car on their lot. Dealers get more for a used car than private sellers because they are supposed to check it out and repair anything wrong.
Can’t speak to the legal technicalities, but it seems like it would be difficult to require that the seller of a used car know and inform all the problems and symptoms the car might develop after purchase. No harm done to ask for help from the seller, but to somehow require the seller to do this I expect at the minimum you’d have to show the seller knew of this problem before.
A car is a complicates mechanical gadget, and even though today’s cars – especially Hondas – are very reliable compared to cars of yesteryear, they still have components that wear out and break from years of daily use.
I concur w/the advice above, this is a minor problem and can be easily and relatively inexpensively fixed. There’s no harm done to ask the seller for a little help on this, but don’t expect the seller to agree. Before approaching the seller, maybe come up with a couple of compromises where you get a little benefit and not much negative to the seller. For example, you pay for the parts, and 50% of the labor. They supply the other 50% of the labor.
I agree with others - I doubt the seller will help you out & this is fairly standard/routine stuff to repair.
Did it make noise when you test drove it? Is there something the seller might have done to mask the noise of bad sway bar ends?
If you otherwise like the vehicle, have it checked over by a reputable independent shop and have the repairs made. Write it off mentally as the cost of an education.
could have worn bushings in lower a-arm. hondas use a multilink setup with a-arms/strut rods. i would look at those first for wiggle issues. than look at the strut itself. noises/clunks are usually the strut mount.
The NY used car lemon law is quite specific, your car was covered for 60 days but only for components listed in the law. Struts and the swaybar are not listed.