What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
I am in Massachusetts.
***Sorry for the long post***
Hey guys,
I have a question about my sister's car loan she took out about 5 1/2 years ago. We always knew there was some shady business going on but at the time, I was too young to really understand what was going on, but now that I have some extra time on my hands and might be a little more knowledgeable I started collecting the paper work for it and looking into it. This was the situation back in 2006:
My sister had bought a Mazda 3 brand new off the lot in 2004. She spent two years paying it on time and everything was great. All of a sudden, my sister decided to go out and get an suv and that's where the trouble began. She went to a used car dealership and did all the paperwork and came back with the suv and went from owing less than 15k on her mazda to over 40k on the suv. The used car dealership forged my mother's signature, who was the cosigner on the original loan for the mazda 3, after my mother refused to sign off on the new car loan. We have the original invoice for the suv where my mother's signature is completely missing from the co-singer line.
The moment my sister showed up with the suv and the astronomical payment, my mother stormed back to the used dealership the following morning. When my mom arrives, the dealership claims the car was already sent to the auction. After giving my mom a bunch of excuses, they convinced my mom that the mazda was lost and that their only option was to get a cheap car off their lot. They ended up buying a used 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix GT and that was that. My mom wasn't too knowledgeable on suing for fraud and stuff so they just left with the car.
Fast forward a couple years and after a conversation about how my sister is paying way too much monthly (about 398) for a used pontiac grand prix, we decided to look over the paper work. Besides the original fraud on the suv, where they forged the signature and then sold the car in 24 hrs, the numbers did not add up for the grand prix. My sister was told the pontiac grand prix was being sold at a price of 11k. However, the paperwork states the amount financed was around 27k. My sister was not upside down on her loan at all so if anything, the original price of the pontiac of 11k would have gone down. On the receipt they even said the trade had a net value of 3500 but the cash price of the pontiac is at 27k!
They basically added the total of what was owed on the loan for the mazda to the selling price of the pontiac and did not discount the total book value of the mazda at the time. My sister left owing them 24k for a car that was 11k after trading her car in which was not upside down at all.
Currently I am thinking about trying to take legal action against this dealership. The statute of limitations in MA is 3 years for fraud and 10 years for contracts. I think the car loan falls under the "contracts" category. What steps do you guys think I should take and is there a case here at all. The 2006 Pontiac grand prix had a masrp of 24k brand new so there is no way a used one with 10k miles should go for 27k. Especially when you are trading in a car that is worth about 3500 more than what is owed on the loan. My family was simply ignorant of the legal power they had at the time. Sorry for the long post but any help would be appreciated or pointing me in the right direction.
I am in Massachusetts.
***Sorry for the long post***
Hey guys,
I have a question about my sister's car loan she took out about 5 1/2 years ago. We always knew there was some shady business going on but at the time, I was too young to really understand what was going on, but now that I have some extra time on my hands and might be a little more knowledgeable I started collecting the paper work for it and looking into it. This was the situation back in 2006:
My sister had bought a Mazda 3 brand new off the lot in 2004. She spent two years paying it on time and everything was great. All of a sudden, my sister decided to go out and get an suv and that's where the trouble began. She went to a used car dealership and did all the paperwork and came back with the suv and went from owing less than 15k on her mazda to over 40k on the suv. The used car dealership forged my mother's signature, who was the cosigner on the original loan for the mazda 3, after my mother refused to sign off on the new car loan. We have the original invoice for the suv where my mother's signature is completely missing from the co-singer line.
The moment my sister showed up with the suv and the astronomical payment, my mother stormed back to the used dealership the following morning. When my mom arrives, the dealership claims the car was already sent to the auction. After giving my mom a bunch of excuses, they convinced my mom that the mazda was lost and that their only option was to get a cheap car off their lot. They ended up buying a used 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix GT and that was that. My mom wasn't too knowledgeable on suing for fraud and stuff so they just left with the car.
Fast forward a couple years and after a conversation about how my sister is paying way too much monthly (about 398) for a used pontiac grand prix, we decided to look over the paper work. Besides the original fraud on the suv, where they forged the signature and then sold the car in 24 hrs, the numbers did not add up for the grand prix. My sister was told the pontiac grand prix was being sold at a price of 11k. However, the paperwork states the amount financed was around 27k. My sister was not upside down on her loan at all so if anything, the original price of the pontiac of 11k would have gone down. On the receipt they even said the trade had a net value of 3500 but the cash price of the pontiac is at 27k!
They basically added the total of what was owed on the loan for the mazda to the selling price of the pontiac and did not discount the total book value of the mazda at the time. My sister left owing them 24k for a car that was 11k after trading her car in which was not upside down at all.
Currently I am thinking about trying to take legal action against this dealership. The statute of limitations in MA is 3 years for fraud and 10 years for contracts. I think the car loan falls under the "contracts" category. What steps do you guys think I should take and is there a case here at all. The 2006 Pontiac grand prix had a masrp of 24k brand new so there is no way a used one with 10k miles should go for 27k. Especially when you are trading in a car that is worth about 3500 more than what is owed on the loan. My family was simply ignorant of the legal power they had at the time. Sorry for the long post but any help would be appreciated or pointing me in the right direction.
