Car Question

[theresalyn]

My boyfriend bought a used car from a car dealership a year and a half ago here in Indiana. Lately it has been making knocking noises from the engine. He took it to a mechanic and when they opened up the engine, they found a socket extender lodged somewhere in there (I'm not a car person).

The extender basically tore up the whole inside of the engine and the metal shavings clogged the oil pump. The engine wasn't getting oil to it so it's basically shot--almost everything has to be replaced. The job to replace or fix the engine is, as you can imagine, expensive.

What it comes down to is: Is the car dealership liable for what happened to his engine?

[Stevef]

Originally Posted by theresalyn

My boyfriend bought a used car from a car dealership a year and a half ago here in Indiana. Lately it has been making knocking noises from the engine. He took it to a mechanic and when they opened up the engine, they found a socket extender lodged somewhere in there (I'm not a car person).

The extender basically tore up the whole inside of the engine and the metal shavings clogged the oil pump. The engine wasn't getting oil to it so it's basically shot--almost everything has to be replaced. The job to replace or fix the engine is, as you can imagine, expensive.

What it comes down to is: Is the car dealership liable for what happened to his engine?

There's no way to tell from your post who left the extension there. Since it took a year and a half to cause any damage, you'll be hard pressed to convince a court that the dealership left it there. It could have been done before or after it was in the possession of the dealer.