warranty misleading information

[enils]

Hi all,

I live in Berlin Maryland. About a month ago I purchased a 97 BMW 528i from a big dealership in Delaware. The car was advertised as preowned certified. I made it clear to the sales person that I want to buy a car with at least a year warranty. She assured me that the car I was buying had a year or up to 100,000 miles warranty left which would expire in July 2004. The car had 75k miles when I bought it. She also offered me extended warranty which I refused. Within 45 days I head problems with the tail light and sun roof. They fixed the tail light for no charge, but did not do anything to fix the sunroof. They also told me that the warranty had expired. This came as a surprise to me. This was the original bmw warranty which I was not told anything about when I bought the car. Bmw warranty expired 20 days after I bought the car. When I confronted the sales person about the 1 year warranty she denied to having offered it to me. I have nothing in writing because I assumed the warranty would be something I would receive in the mail. I SCREWED UP ROYALLY. I have nothing on paper. It's just me against her. I contacted her manager and as expected they will not do anything to honor the deal. I have decided I want to take them to court for FRAUD. Can anyone give some legal advice on what steps I should take.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Enils

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

If you're unable to prove your allegations to us on this forum, how, pray tell, do you plan on proving your allegations in court?

This is a "he said, she said" situation, and that my friend, and a dime, won't by you a cup of coffee in court.

You were right, however, when you said "I SCREWED UP ROYALLY."

IAAL

 

[enils]

warranty fraud

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I think that the term pre-owned certified means that the car is certified and carries some sort of warranty. This is a huge mercedes and bmw dealer we are talking about and not a junk yard dealer. For their warranty to expire 20 days after the sale is not acceptible. More over even though there was no writen contract, there was a verbal contract and that does hold in court. It might not be that easy, but I could get lucky. I guess I will not know until I try. It is really up to the judge. In the other hand the dealer might settle to honor the warranty. It is cheaper for them to pursue this option than a day in court.
Finally, I think it is appropriate to post the problem first and then discuss strategies. If I knew what the strategies where I would not ask for advice, and if I needed somebody to beat on a dead horse, I would not ask for help. I do have some tricks up my sleeve as well, but I wanted to know whether other people have had similar problems.