Sundays TV news and talk shows were full of blather about how The Lawyers are lining up to file Class Action Suits against Toyota. It seems EVERY Toyota owner and stock holder will be getting a letter inviting them to join the suit so they can be compensated for “Lost Value”. Thousands of other lawyers are rounding up individuals who claim they have suffered some damage or loss because of stuck throttles, unintended acceleration and failed brakes…It looks like the recession is over for the lawyers…
“…It looks like the recession is over for the lawyers.”
Enterprising people can always find a way to make a buck. Even ambulance, uh, Toyota chasers. And good luck proving lost value. No value is st until the car is sold. How are they going to prove lost value? But Toyota might settle out of court. All those Toyota owners that join in the suit might get $50 while the lawyers get $50,000,000. Great work if you can get it.
I have a lot of companies that I want to sue for “lost value”. I drove AMC products and American Motors sold out to Chrysler and there was no more Rambler, so my car went down in value. I bought a new Oldsmobile back in 1978 and around 2005 GM dropped the Oldsmobile brand. I built a new house in 1989 and had a state of the art Clare gas furnace installed. Clare apparently no longer exists and rather than take a chance, I replaced the furnace. I bought a Homelite-Jacobsen lawnmower back in 1992. Homelite sold its lawnmower division leaving me holding the bag.
Now the truth is that the Rambler I owned was near the end of its useful life. The Oldsmobile is 32 years old and there are very few 32 year old cars for whcih the dealers stock parts. The Clare furnace worked for 20 years and, unfortunately, the lawnmower will probably go several more seasons so I have no reason to go buy a fancier self propelled mower.
Toyota is recalling the cars and fixing the problem. How does this cause lost value?
Perhaps when NADA and Kelly Blue Book Toyota prices drop 20% in two weeks…
One class action lawyer I know is also incuding “pain and suffering” from the uncertainty that something MAY BE WRONG with the car. This lawyer has been very successful in past class action suits.
I’m waiting to see what he’ll tell me, since I have a 2009 Toyota which has not had any recalls so far.
Correction: that’s a 2007 Toyota!
Back off guys…my best friend is a lawyer and I’m tired of springing for dinner and drinks when we go out. Now, he has no excuse ! Let the trials begin !
Seriously though, I’d like to think there might be a few legit claims they could be held responsible for…I do want to pay more for my next Toyota.
I will agree that Toyota mishandled this situation and tried to cover it up. Now Toyota is in a real jam. My guess is that Toyota prices, if in fact they do drop, will rebound if the repairs from the recalls are successful. Toyotas have a good reliability record and this sells used cars.
If it does decrease the value of a Toyota, there will be always someone like me to take advantage of this. I bought a Corvair after Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe at Any Speed” was published. I could buy a newer Corvair than almost anything else. I put a transverse spring between the swing axles to limit the amount the wheels would tuck under the car on corners. This part cost me about $15 and I had a wonderful handling car.
“I do want to pay more for my next Toyota.”
You can be SURE of that!
$3.6 Billion and counting…
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c41c5a9e-1b2a-11df-953f-00144feab49a.html