What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado
So here is the skinny, I bought a car back in May, from a little rinky dink dealer. (mistake #1, I know) While looking at the car, crawling all around it, and checking it out (I consider myself to be a somewhat car knowledgeable, aka, I can see if something is broken, something is new, old, etc..) I saw a few dings and dents, normal wear and tear on a 4 year old car. As well as the hood not lining up exactly correct. All parts under the hood seemed to be OEM, etc, etc... So, I told the dealer, lets check out the carfax. The dealer flashed me the carfax, showed that it had been repaired only once, for the passenger side rear door assembly. We walked back out and looked again. Looks fixed, no problem.
After some wheeling and dealing, I signed all the paper work, (IE, the car fax next to where the door assembly had been repaired, the "AS-IS NO WARRANTY" sheet, etc etc.) Shook hands, and out the door, happy with the car, and the dealer, of course, seemed happy as well, win win.
****EDIT: Sorry I forgot to say, that the dealer carfax only showed up to before the car had gone to auction, it did not show that the car had gone to auction yet even. I believe (with out having the paper infront of me, its last date was something in '09)*****
Fast forward 6 Months
This weekend, I was driving by a car, that caught my eye, I pulled in, talked to the dealer, told them about my car, they told me about theirs. I basically said, I would pay what they wanted for their car, if they paid off mine. They said that it most likely could be done, a few min later walked back, and showed me an "Autocheck" (kinda like car fax, but I guess dealer only) which said the car had been announced auction as "frame damage". They told me they would only offer me a few thousand on my car which blue books out at almost $20k. The person who was the one who got it at auction, was of course, the dealer I bought from.
****EDIT: The autocheck did say that the door assembly was repaired, and also went up to where I registered the vehicle. But right before that was where it stated "AUCTION REPORTED FRAME DAMAGE"*****
A little pissed, I ran back to the dealer I bought it from, they started making crap up right away, saying the owner was out of town, and wouldn't be back til monday, etc, etc... This was all on Friday of this weekend. So I walked back in on Saturday, expecting to have a sales guy call the owner because I was pissed, only to find out that he was in fact in town, and they "talked" Friday night about what to do. The owner basically said, he wont do anything, because I signed the as-is, and we reviewed the carfax.
So my question is, how can I become whole again? I either want them to pay me my downpayment, all payments made, and the remainder of the loan off, OR pay me the difference of the value of the car vs the loan amount. I feel they sold the car under complete misrepresentation, and theft by deception. They had this car that they KNEW had frame damage and worth less than 1/4th of blue book, advertised it at blue book value, and safe.... No mention of this type of damage anywhere, on any paper, or verbal (I had a witness with for my car buying as well). I was just the unlucky guy who took the bait.
So a law suit is the only way I'm going to get anything done, correct? What else can I do to help this guy from never doing this again? I can't find them under the BBB. I fear, that if they do get the car back, they will re-sell it for blue-book, with out telling the next person about it. Or who knows how many on the lot are like this....
**cliff notes: Bought a car from a dealer, they showed a car fax that looked ok, found out that there was infact frame damage, that the owner of the dealer knew about, but sold it as if it had been in tip top shape**
So here is the skinny, I bought a car back in May, from a little rinky dink dealer. (mistake #1, I know) While looking at the car, crawling all around it, and checking it out (I consider myself to be a somewhat car knowledgeable, aka, I can see if something is broken, something is new, old, etc..) I saw a few dings and dents, normal wear and tear on a 4 year old car. As well as the hood not lining up exactly correct. All parts under the hood seemed to be OEM, etc, etc... So, I told the dealer, lets check out the carfax. The dealer flashed me the carfax, showed that it had been repaired only once, for the passenger side rear door assembly. We walked back out and looked again. Looks fixed, no problem.
After some wheeling and dealing, I signed all the paper work, (IE, the car fax next to where the door assembly had been repaired, the "AS-IS NO WARRANTY" sheet, etc etc.) Shook hands, and out the door, happy with the car, and the dealer, of course, seemed happy as well, win win.
****EDIT: Sorry I forgot to say, that the dealer carfax only showed up to before the car had gone to auction, it did not show that the car had gone to auction yet even. I believe (with out having the paper infront of me, its last date was something in '09)*****
Fast forward 6 Months
This weekend, I was driving by a car, that caught my eye, I pulled in, talked to the dealer, told them about my car, they told me about theirs. I basically said, I would pay what they wanted for their car, if they paid off mine. They said that it most likely could be done, a few min later walked back, and showed me an "Autocheck" (kinda like car fax, but I guess dealer only) which said the car had been announced auction as "frame damage". They told me they would only offer me a few thousand on my car which blue books out at almost $20k. The person who was the one who got it at auction, was of course, the dealer I bought from.
****EDIT: The autocheck did say that the door assembly was repaired, and also went up to where I registered the vehicle. But right before that was where it stated "AUCTION REPORTED FRAME DAMAGE"*****
A little pissed, I ran back to the dealer I bought it from, they started making crap up right away, saying the owner was out of town, and wouldn't be back til monday, etc, etc... This was all on Friday of this weekend. So I walked back in on Saturday, expecting to have a sales guy call the owner because I was pissed, only to find out that he was in fact in town, and they "talked" Friday night about what to do. The owner basically said, he wont do anything, because I signed the as-is, and we reviewed the carfax.
So my question is, how can I become whole again? I either want them to pay me my downpayment, all payments made, and the remainder of the loan off, OR pay me the difference of the value of the car vs the loan amount. I feel they sold the car under complete misrepresentation, and theft by deception. They had this car that they KNEW had frame damage and worth less than 1/4th of blue book, advertised it at blue book value, and safe.... No mention of this type of damage anywhere, on any paper, or verbal (I had a witness with for my car buying as well). I was just the unlucky guy who took the bait.
So a law suit is the only way I'm going to get anything done, correct? What else can I do to help this guy from never doing this again? I can't find them under the BBB. I fear, that if they do get the car back, they will re-sell it for blue-book, with out telling the next person about it. Or who knows how many on the lot are like this....
**cliff notes: Bought a car from a dealer, they showed a car fax that looked ok, found out that there was infact frame damage, that the owner of the dealer knew about, but sold it as if it had been in tip top shape**
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