Bought a truck that had been crashed...

[cdelinks]

What is the name of your state? Massachussetts

Bought a truck in December of 2003 from a dealer in Haverhill, MA. The salesman told me there told me it had never been crashed, and the CarFax came up clean.

July of 2004 it quit running, and I took it to a Ford Dealership. They said the catalytic converter is toast and the there was a valve and vacuum missing. The Ford Tech then told me it was obvious the truck had been crashed. I still owe money on the truck, and I am not particularly excited about spending $1600 to fix it and try to sell it when I know it has been crashed.

Any responsiblity lay in the dealer's hands? Can they be forced to buy it back this late in the game?

Thanks for any help,
Chandler

 

[stephenk]

anything in writing from the dealer stating that the truck had never been in an accident?

 

[cdelinks]

No, unfortunately, just the CarFax report.

 

[Who's Liable?]

A CarFAX report does not guarantee a %100 history of the vehicle... All the information in a CarFAX report is voluntarily give by the DMV, Insurance Co., and so on... Bottom line, although a CarFAX report is nice, it will NOT show the entire history of the vehicle...

 

[cdelinks]

Fully understood about the CarFax accuracy. It's obvious someone pulled a quick self-repair at this point, and I wish I had been more attentive and thorough.

I just thought I would seek out some feedback, since the Truck only has 5000 more miles on it than it did when I bought it from the dealer...I wasn't sure if dealers could be held responsible for something like this, since it seems most laws protect the consumer from shady auto dealers.

Thanks for the input.

 

[stephenk]

Did the dealer do a pre-sale vehicle inspection and provide you with a report about the condition of the truck?

 

[cdelinks]

No. The salesman seemed pretty new to sales.

I, unfortunately, was also new to purchasing...I realize, now, that documentation is key when dealing with autos.

I assumed I was looking at a my word vs their word, but felt pretty confident that the salesman was dumb enought to say the wrong thing if it came down to it.

It's a 1997 Ford F150 with only 60,000 miles on it, so I shouldn't have too much trouble selling it to get my money back, but the whole idea bothers me.