Purchased a used car with undisclosed damage

[soulexperience]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
I purchased a pre owned car from a new car dealer(Infiniti).My first question to sales person : was car involved in a collision.Does it show any paint work or previous damage.He proceeded to show me the Carfax which showed no accidents.I purchased the car,as is,no warranty.After owning it for a while I began to notice certain flaws which did not make sense.Notably mis aligned headlights which makes driving at night difficult if not unsafe.The air conditioner does not work properly,blows hot and cold.(I checked this during test drive for about a minute,it worked fine,but found later it takes more time for the flaw to appear).There are other things wrong,but not as important or as costly.I took car to a Hyundai dealer(brand of car I bought)and they told me car was involved in a front end collision,as evidenced by the amount of paint overspray under the hood.They told me headlight is not fixable due to accident and very costly to replace,probably why body shop left it.They are refusing to warrant the AC due to the collision damage.I have owned the vehicle approximately 3 months and put only 600 miles on it.I drive only on occasion which explains why it took so long to realize the problems.I did make them known before 90 days,a typical minimum warranty usually given.So,my question is what recourse if any do I have?

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
I purchased a pre owned car from a new car dealer(Infiniti).My first question to sales person : was car involved in a collision.Does it show any paint work or previous damage.He proceeded to show me the Carfax which showed no accidents.I purchased the car,as is,no warranty.After owning it for a while I began to notice certain flaws which did not make sense.Notably mis aligned headlights which makes driving at night difficult if not unsafe.The air conditioner does not work properly,blows hot and cold.(I checked this during test drive for about a minute,it worked fine,but found later it takes more time for the flaw to appear).There are other things wrong,but not as important or as costly.I took car to a Hyundai dealer(brand of car I bought)and they told me car was involved in a front end collision,as evidenced by the amount of paint overspray under the hood.They told me headlight is not fixable due to accident and very costly to replace,probably why body shop left it.They are refusing to warrant the AC due to the collision damage.I have owned the vehicle approximately 3 months and put only 600 miles on it.I drive only on occasion which explains why it took so long to realize the problems.I did make them known before 90 days,a typical minimum warranty usually given.So,my question is what recourse if any do I have?

Enjoy your car!

 

[tranquility]

Soul: "Has this car been in an accident?"

Dealer: "Here's a piece of paper saying no."

Soul: "I guess I'm good to go then."

If you got the person to say "no" or otherwise claim there was no accident, you might have something. By taking the carfax, you relied on that and not the salesman. If the report was not edited by the dealer, he did nothing wrong.

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
I purchased a pre owned car from a new car dealer(Infiniti).My first question to sales person : was car involved in a collision.Does it show any paint work or previous damage.He proceeded to show me the Carfax which showed no accidents.I purchased the car,as is,no warranty.After owning it for a while I began to notice certain flaws which did not make sense.Notably mis aligned headlights which makes driving at night difficult if not unsafe.The air conditioner does not work properly,blows hot and cold.(I checked this during test drive for about a minute,it worked fine,but found later it takes more time for the flaw to appear).There are other things wrong,but not as important or as costly.I took car to a Hyundai dealer(brand of car I bought)and they told me car was involved in a front end collision,as evidenced by the amount of paint overspray under the hood.They told me headlight is not fixable due to accident and very costly to replace,probably why body shop left it.They are refusing to warrant the AC due to the collision damage.I have owned the vehicle approximately 3 months and put only 600 miles on it.I drive only on occasion which explains why it took so long to realize the problems.I did make them known before 90 days,a typical minimum warranty usually given.So,my question is what recourse if any do I have?

Short answer? None.

Carfax is not always accurate. It only shows those accidents which were properly reported, but doesn't show when things were never reported at all, or if repair work was done by a family member or friend.

Unless the seller offers you a specific warranty or guarantee of fitness IN WRITING, then the vehicle sale is pretty much ALWAYS considered "AS IS". Since sellers of used cars are not always known for being 100% honest in their representation of the vehicle they are selling, it's ALWAYS recommended that a prospective buyer invest in a full inspection by their own private mechanic to ensure that all defects and problems are found BEFORE the sale is completed. If you had done that, it sounds like what you have already found would have been discovered much earlier, before you got stuck with a vehicle with problems that you never realized existed.

As you say, you purchased the car "AS IS", with no warranty. That pretty much means you took the vehicle as you found it, along with all of the problems and issues you have now discovered after the fact.

As Zig has said, the only thing you can do at this point is to enjoy your new car.

 

[ecmst12]

Never ever buy a used car without having it inspected by an independant mechanic. Guess you know that NOW!

 

[soulexperience]

Short answer? None.

Carfax is not always accurate. It only shows those accidents which were properly reported, but doesn't show when things were never reported at all, or if repair work was done by a family member or friend.

Unless the seller offers you a specific warranty or guarantee of fitness IN WRITING, then the vehicle sale is pretty much ALWAYS considered "AS IS". Since sellers of used cars are not always known for being 100% honest in their representation of the vehicle they are selling, it's ALWAYS recommended that a prospective buyer invest in a full inspection by their own private mechanic to ensure that all defects and problems are found BEFORE the sale is completed. If you had done that, it sounds like what you have already found would have been discovered much earlier, before you got stuck with a vehicle with problems that you never realized existed.

As you say, you purchased the car "AS IS", with no warranty. That pretty much means you took the vehicle as you found it, along with all of the problems and issues you have now discovered after the fact.

As Zig has said, the only thing you can do at this point is to enjoy your new car.

i TOOK THE VEHICLE,TRUE.I WAS TOLD VERBALLY NO ACCIDENTS.ADDITIONALLY,I VIEW THE HEADLIGHT PROBLEM AS A DEFINITE SAFETY ISSUE.

 

[Zigner]

i TOOK THE VEHICLE,TRUE.I WAS TOLD VERBALLY NO ACCIDENTS.ADDITIONALLY,I VIEW THE HEADLIGHT PROBLEM AS A DEFINITE SAFETY ISSUE.

Ahh, so it was an obvious problem then, right?

 

[ecmst12]

You bought the car as-is, with no warrenty, without getting it inspected. This is 100% your fault and you have no recourse against anyone. Enjoy your new car.

 

[soulexperience]

Ahh, so it was an obvious problem then, right?

Only obvious when driven at night.

 

[soulexperience]

You bought the car as-is, with no warrenty, without getting it inspected. This is 100% your fault and you have no recourse against anyone. Enjoy your new car.

From what I was told at the Hyundai dealer,there is no such thing as an "as is" auto sale.That is why I came to this site looking for an answer from someone with intimate knowledge on the subject.

 

[ecmst12]

Every used car sale is as-is, unless there is a WRITTEN warrenty stating otherwise.

 

[tranquility]

If you were told verbally it was not in an accident, why didn't you say that?

Now, look at your contract for sale. Is there some portion saying "as is" or "all things must be in writing" on it?

 

[soulexperience]

If you were told verbally it was not in an accident, why didn't you say that?

Now, look at your contract for sale. Is there some portion saying "as is" or "all things must be in writing" on it?

I was shown a Carfax and told the car was clean,no accidents.I do have a page that says as is.

 

[ecmst12]

Then it's as-is. Not so hard to understand.

And apparently to the salesman's knowledge, there had been no accidents.

 

[soulexperience]

Then it's as-is. Not so hard to understand.

And apparently to the salesman's knowledge, there had been no accidents.

How about the dealership's knowledge?Or the used car manager/appraiser who I told today should be fired for doing such a lousy job.Or the T/O manager who solidified the sale and to whom I also asked the same question.There is no way on God's green earth they missed this.It's strictly CYA at this point.