Technically, but if a 3rd party did the inspection, the dealership will probably plead ignorance. If the car was sold as-is, and their only legal obligation is that it have a current inspection sticker then they might be able to stick you with the car because it did have a current inspection sticker, and they aren’t the ones who fraudulently applied it.
Of course, they probably have an understanding with the tire shop that if too many (or any) failed inspections happen they’ll take their money elsewhere, so they’re probably still guilty of something but proving it might be another story and would probably require more resources than you have or are willing to commit.
At that point you’re probably stuck with the car because suing them is time consuming, expensive, and your chances of winning go down if they blame the tire shop for the actual fraud.
While the car dealer didn’t do the inspection, they are responsible for it because they paid to have it done. They are by no means off the hook. Still, they seem to be doing the right things at this point, and I’d give them time to make it right. If they say it’s acceptable, You might want to pursue it further with the State Police. Pursuing both avenues for resolution at the same time is OK. Also, since the dealer isn’t implicated, maybe you can use them to get a good resolution for you here. It might mean that they take the car back, but they can probably get some sort of payment from the tire shop for messing up a perfectly good sale. See what happens, and be flexible in finding a solution.
Between the vibes I got from the phone call with the place and the fact the autoshop(an NTB) is legit nearby and doesn’t seem to care for them at all, I honestly would call bull on the dealership not knowing much about the place that does their inspections… The frame rot/rust is so in your face, there’s no way that tire place hasn’t done super shady inspections like this before…like they didn’t even care to try to fill it in.
I’m not sure if you can post pics here, but I would even show y’all what it looks like under there. When NTB called me back to the car, dude was all but like ‘Oh HELL NAH’.
Like you say, I’ma see what they try to tell me tomorrow.
The only thing I’ll add, knowing nothing about inspection laws in Virginia, is be careful what you wish for. If the authorities inspect your car and “red tag” it, you will be out a car, while you attempt to get the car lot to return your money. As Hardy told Laurel, “another fine mess you got me into”.
That’s a concern yeah and why I’m seeing what the dealership has to say about the whole thing and I’m trying to think about any options I might run into at this point.
An exchange is the -last- thing I want to consider doing cause this left a seriously bad taste for this hot mess of a place, but I’m even keeping that in the backkkk of my mind if I can make sure to have it checked over beforehand this time. Ofc I wish it was just as simple as getting my money back.
NTB was a creation of Sears, and as a result it never had much credibility, IMHO.
Now that it has been spun-off from Sears it might have become more credible, but, on the other hand… is there any chain automotive service group that is known for expertise or honesty?
Bing has a very good point because YOUR primary goal is to return the car, NOT to strike a blow for the justice and the American way so before you call in the cavalry, calmly talk to the Dealer, informing them that “You tried to have it inspected and you were informed that you can’t tag the car as is as it’s considered unsafe”.
No more, no less and ask them “What they’re willing to do about it?” and go from there.
What happened is unethical and possibly illegal but Is a deduction reasonable for the mileage you already put on the car? Is the difference in price worth the time and attorney fees to file a suit?
You can always sic the State on these guys but your primary goal is to get you away from these “goniffs” reasonably intact. Focus on that and take care of the rest later.
And BTW, my experience has been that most Independent Used Car dealers want to maximize their profit but are generally are honest, reputable and value their license.
Don’t ask me why I thought the exact shop was relevant but, either way, they could’ve just as easily told me that everything was fine. I didn’t go there for rust, I went there some sounds I was concerned about that popped up; theyyy(particularly the mechanic who looked it over) pointed it out to me and the severity of it.
That’s why I hadn’t even said anything about a trooper to the dealership and told him that I was speaking with them to see what c/would be done about it. Like I said, I didn’t threaten them on the phone or yell or anything. I just addressed the rust and inspection situation. Maybe I jumped ahead by telling a trooper first, but looks like the ball is in my court for now.
Sorry if I seem all over the place, but yeah my intent isn’t to snipe them outta business. It’s to get something done about this bs.
ETA: I’ve seen shady independent dealers in the past, too, through fam and friends, so ofc I’ve gotta put some of the blame on myself for not taking extra precautions first. sigh This is just…no though. ugh.
I’m a little confused here…What is meant by “Dealership”? A new car dealership like Chevy or Toyota that also sells used cars? Or a used car lot? Around here only places that sell NEW vehicles are called dealerships…and EVERY ONE of them does their own inspections.
For your question, it would fall under used lot, but around here they tend to refer to both as ‘dealerships’, or at least the average joe talks that way so it’s kinda stuck.
It’s one of those things that ends up with everyone referring to it as such. It would fall under used lot though yeah, if that changes the game any. Sorry for any confusion.
I have spoken with an actual dealership because I was checking out a car with them and after I briefly vented about this Saturn, he asked for the pics I had to show an actual inspector(idk but like y’all said this was probably directly through them) and he was the one to confirm the sticker situation.
Yeah, I’ve stupidly got myself into a potential mess. :\ Just trying to not screw up any chance of fixing it.
My advice to you would be to find a local attorney that takes consumer fraud cases on a contingency basis. That means you don’t pay the attorney until they recover money for you ( usually about 33% of the recovery). This will probably result in a net recovery for you greater than you can do on your own, and has no downside for you.
Hey, I’m open to advice if tomorrow doesn’t go well. It’s why I joined this forum… saw it was an active one where people might have info/been through similar experiences while I see what I can do otherwise.
Appreciate everyone that’s taken the time to offer their insight.
Anyways, I’m probably off of here for the evening cause I guess I’ve said all I can. I’ll update tomorrow.
Hey, just an update for everybody here. Not a few min into the place and I got a resolution.
I showed one dude the pics I had of the rust severity and the guy who runs the place came over, looked at em, and started talking about how they could ‘repair’ it. I just got bad vibes, said was ‘Tbh, I don’t know…’ and he immediately tells the other guy to refund me, like he didn’t even wanna talk about it, heh.
Yeah, it sucks I’m without a vehicle right this sec, but I can tell you one thing… LESSON LEARNED about rushing into this kinda thing without a check in place.
for me the end of the story sounded pretty much like a case where we were pumping gas into the car on some out-of-network station and it filled more than volume listed for the vehicle tank… although we had more than 1/4 tank as we pulled in…
the cashier played stupid and asked to check the receipt… then snapped it from my friend hands, pushed $100 bill into his hands, then closed the window and turned on the “closed” sign
Very good for you and if you think about it, you actually made out to the good with 2 months of free car use! You made my day but my guess is that this wasn’t the first time that the Dealer used “Dirty Dan the Inspection Man” and had a year had passed, you may have had a very different outcome.
The moral of the story is have any used car evaluated by an independent mechanic, the best $100 dollars you’ll spend.
Since you need a car, get a pre-purchase inspection by a mechanic you trust on your next choice. It doesn’t matter who is selling, pay your mechanic about $125 for the inspection.
