I understand what you are all saying. The dealer told me that the car would pass inspections, not only that on his ad, he put that the car was in great condition (fault advertisement). I trust that someone would actually honest about the car, they are selling.
The thing is since the car was dirty, he promise he would have it clean by a professional and that the window wipers would be brand new. that i had nothing to worry about and that they will double check the car for any problem.
Now i brought the car on June 12, 2015… He promised to dropped off the car at 12:00pm Friday. I texted him a few time about the car and he said he was sorry that he out buying other car, that if could drop it of the next day, that he will do more cleaning to the car anyway. that he will drop it of Saturday at 12:00pm, so it was 8:00pm at night it was too late, so i agree for the next day at 12:00pm. he actually didn’t keep his words. I texted him the morning and called and he ignored me. after he text me at 4:00pm saying he sorry, he been busy. He sent someone to dropped off the car at 8:30pm at night. The guy who dropped of the car brought his whole family with him.
I will posting picture of the car…sorry for the crazy deal. Now my question is SHOULD I FILE A LAWSUIT??? IS IT WORTH IT?
P.S The car was never cleaned. He actually lied and was worry more about the check being clear.
I Think I Would Go With Small Claims Court. It Doesn’t Cost Much. Not Much To Lose And Lots To Gain. You Represent Yourself. It’s Up To The Judge After Hearing Both Sides Of The Story. Take Papers, Be Brief And Respectful. Problem Is You Will Probably Have To Go To Court In Dealer’s Area.
The thing is too (No horn, No E-brake and Few other problems i’m starting to find) He didn’t clean anything and i have his texts for all the fault promises he made.
Some advice, forget about what the salesman said, and what time he dropped the car off, and on how the car was not cleaned, those are totally irrelevant. Concentrate on what the faults are on the car. Your photos are a good start.
And read any documentation you have and see what any warrantees there are, if any.
As others have said, a lawsuit would cost you thousands of dollars, and you could lose. Instead, talk to the manager at the dealership, showing him the photos. Use social media to describe what happened, and take a copy of that to the dealer also.
edit: if you have texts from the salesman, print those also and take them with you. But forget the ones about delivery times.
True that, but i would think…The dealer would be more responsible…, but yes it is totally irrelevant. I only got two documents from him… the offer and the car title, he said that other paper work he will drop it off with the car, which that never happened. I didn’t see any other paper work in the first place, but i will be going to the dealer tomorrow to work something out. I don’t want to do this whole court thing, but if i have too. I will diffidently do it.
Clearly, the rocker panels are rusty, and that’s being kind the way I worded it
The bottoms of the doors are also blooming, but I’m not sure a car would fail safety inspection for it. But I do think it might fail because of the rockers
That “cable” hanging down looks to be . . . in my opinion . . . the emergency brake cable
And the tires are clearly very worn, perhaps even down to the wear bars . . . !
Clearly, the dealer flipped the car without spending any real money on it. He sounds like the king of sleazos
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but if you’re looking at $1500 cars at a dealer, I wouldn’t expect much at all
They probably bought this car at auction, spent next to nothing “refurbishing” it . . . as you can see from the pictures, and planned to make a modest profit
In all likelihood, that is the dealer’s business plan. Buy cars cheap at auction, spend pennies “reburbishing” them and flip them “as is”
It may be legal what they’re doing . . . it’s not for me to say, because I don’t know your state’s regulations and laws . . . but they’ve obviously got extremely low morals
Please do us all a favor and do NOT mention the dealer’s name on this website. If you do, and they find out about it, they may decide to come after you. And that won’t be pretty
The fact the dealer said this, that, and the other means nothing. They’re allowed to stretch the truth and it’s referred to as “puffing”. I call it legalized lying.
There’s enough flaws in those pics to send a blind man screaming before any deal was done.
Well salesman are allowed a great deal of latitude when talking about how good their product is. Its called “puffing” and things like its a great car, I’d buy it for my mother, no problem with it-I’d take it to California, are all just allowable exaggerations. The consumer has the duty to at least make a cursory examination of the product. In this case the rust, poor interior, bad tires, etc. clearly show the car was not in very good condition. I don’t think you have a case at all. Plus the fact that you are in MD and the dealer is in New Hampshire, just complicates any court action.
The car is clearly not what is represented in your linked ad. It says the car runs great and a few other things. I also notice that this is showing under the category “cars & trucks - by owner.” You would need to deal with a private owner different than a dealer.
If you click on the “Avoiding Scams” link on the ad page, you will be taken to a page where you can file a complaint with the “Internet Fraud Complaint Center”. If you can’t get a lawyer to write a letter for you and/or advise you at a low enough price, and you don’t want to go to small claims court, it may be worth your time to file that claim.
ETA - Note: Print that page ASAP before it is taken down. It is good evidence for your case.
Note that the ad says it breaks like new. A new car shouldn’t break at all. Small point, but it makes me wonder what he’s trying to pull. Was his misspelling of brakes an honest mistake?
The rust in the pic makes me wonder how rusty it truly is. Severe rust in the unibody “frame” is a big reason “rust belt” cars like this often fail annual inspections. My cousin in NH actually “imported” a used car from the south as three prospects from NH he took to his inspector failed before he signed on the dotted line. They were not nearly as old as this Focus either.
Is this dealership large enough to have an owner and manager, or is the salesman the only person there? If there is an owner, he may be willing to blame his salesman, give you your money back, or put you in another car. The salesman has no power to do that, but the owner doesn’t want trouble from the state of NH. If he offers another car, DON’T take it without a third party inspection. It’s better to get your money.
The three day “think it over” law does not apply on cars here. It’s only for door to door sales. I suspect NH is the same.
An NH inspection sticker carries no weight in Mass.
@gazerukii Be sure to print that ad before he deletes it from craigslist.
Contacting a lawyer will cost more than you gave for the car. No lawyer will take this case on contingency when there is so little to gain. Small claims court might work, as might threatening a posting on yelp. Remember the dealer may well have a lawyer on retainer. You don’t. Note that you will have to file any case in NH.
Wow, Thank you all so much for your great advice. I’m definitely prepare to face the dealer tomorrow. I been doing my homework and been reading about the laws in cars. Hopefully something good happens tomorrow.
Thank you agian!!! You guys don’t even know how much I appreciate the help.
@MG McAnick Thank you for the advice. I will be having a clear conversation with the dealer tomorrow. I already printed out all that i need and maybe more on the law of NH. I honestly don’t like getting ripped off and i hope this doesn’t happen to anybody else in the future.
I hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else either, but knowing a few sleazy car dealers myself, you can bet it will. Just don’t let it happen to you.
Another thing. I suspect that English may not be your first language. I don’t know about NH, but where I live, all auto sales contracts have to be explained or printed in a non-speaker’s native language. Those buyers guides I spoke of are available in Spanish just for that reason. We have a significant Latino population here.
I also notice that this is showing under the category "cars & trucks - by owner."
Yeah, remember how I said that the used car “dealer” has been through this many times before and knows the ropes? Wouldn’t surprise me if this was rung up as a “private party” sale, and if that happened, OP is SOL unless s/he can prove that to be a sham.
And (although I think any “dealer” worth calling that would fix simple stuff like e-brakes and horns)…the condition of the car is consistent with the asking price, and any of those flaws (IMO) should have been apparent from 20’ away. Are we saying there is no ethical way to sell a bottom-of-the-barrel car at a bottom-of-the-barrel price?
And finally: check FIRST for rust and body damage. Bad engines, transmissions, etc, CAN be fixed (though not always economically) but you can’t fix a body that’s not all there! I’d sooner buy a “good body/bad everything else” car than the other way around.
