about lemon law

my 22 yr old son just purchased a car yesterday. he brought it up to show me. very nice looking car. 4 hours after having it the motor blew. i also found out from him after he signed the contract he found out it had a salvage title. can he do anything about this? he called them and they towed it back to their dealership but are acting like jerks to him. he bought it in carter lake, iowa. UPDATE: i just talked to my son and he said they wont give him his money or his trade-in car back. the tow driver even told them a girl was driving it and that was a lie cause i stood by my son while he loaded it and the guy only said a few words to the line that he's been to our town before. need advice fast thankyou much

[rmcnellis]

could you tell me what year/make/model the car is? was it an actual dealership or diamond jim's used car emporium? did it come with any kind of warranty? did he buy an extended service contract?

it was a buy here pay here kind of plce. it was a 94 nissan cant remember model other than that. nice looking car. they also told him after they looked at it that the tranny was going too. i could see my son liable if he knew it had a salvage title but he was unaware of it till after signing.

it was a as is but they told him after telling him it had a salvage title that he owuld have to bring it is every month for a check up because of title.

[rmcnellis]

this may vary from state to state, but in montana it is illegal to sell a car with a salvage title without first disclosing that the title is branded. if he bought the car knowing it had a junk title brand, he is pretty much stuck, but i am sure he would have to have signed some kind of disclaimer acknowledging the fact that he knew and releasing the dealer from any responsibility. i work at the largest gm/subaru dealership in montana and the next chance i get, i will ask the owner of the dealership because he is a member of the mada and handles this kind of litigation. so far, i've told you what i know. it would be helpful if you could clarify whether or not he knew it had the branded title or if he signed a disclaimer of any kind so that i can find out for sure. thanks

he did not know it had a salvage title till AFTER he signed all the paperwork cause the lady who ran the place came out from her office with it and said yes it does have a salvage title. my son thought that meant a repo.( he did not know what a salvage) was and then she told him to bring it in monthly for maintenence. he told me he thought a salvage was a repo from a drug bust or something lol.

[rmcnellis]

okay, here's the scoop: go back there and tell them to give you your money back because they did not disclose the branded title until after the deal was signed, sealed and the car delivered. if they try to jerk you around, tell them you know it was not legal that they didn't desclose the branded title and that you will take them to court. it may cost you a little bit of money, but you will win as long as everything happened the way you say it did. what they did is against the law and they are 100% in the wrong. and furthermore, a reputable dealer would never have done something like that. the owner of my dealership was pretty shocked when i told him your story and he said he's never heard of any dealer having the buyer return for manditory monthly maintenance checks - pretty shady. take 'em to the cleaners

thankyou very much for info. i think they saw a young kid who had no car buying experience and took advantage of it. my husband even tried calling our channel 7 investigative reporter. they love that kind of stuff but they werent in being on a sunday. i will relay all this to my son. thankyou again very muuch.