inVirginia
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia
We bought a used pickup truck from a small, local used car dealer about 10 years ago and have never had any serious problems with it. We've taken it to one local automotive shop every year for its state inspections. This week it failed inspection because the light on the dash that is supposed to come on to show the airbags are working did not come on. We were advised that it must be taken to a dealer to have that fixed.
We did that and the dealer found that a piece of black foam/tape had been placed over the spot inside the dash to cover the light. The light warning that there was a faulty airbag had been coming on ever since we'd bought the truck but no one had been able to see it! It was sold to us in this condition. And the shop that's been inspecting it yearly for 10 years only noticed the light wasn't on this year. Hmmm.
The truck is a 1996 and it's blue book value is around $1400. The dealership wants $720 to put in a part (airbag controller) and that is no guarantee that will be the final fix. It most likely will require additional work. Otherwise, though, the truck is in great working condition and we fully expected to get several more years of use out of it.
It doesn't seem to make sense to put half its value into repairing it - with the strong possibility that it would in fact cost even more to really fix the problem even though its still a decent working vehicle. But it will cost us a LOT more to buy a newer used truck to replace it.
Are we just screwed? Should we see if our auto insurance would cover any of this? Should we take the dealer who sold us the truck to small claims? Or the auto shop who passed it for state inspection for the last 10 years and only now noticed the problem? We owe the dealer $170 for a diagnosis of a defect that should have been fixed before we were sold the vehicle. Do we have any legal recourse or are we stuck with sucking it up and buying another truck out of pocket?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
We bought a used pickup truck from a small, local used car dealer about 10 years ago and have never had any serious problems with it. We've taken it to one local automotive shop every year for its state inspections. This week it failed inspection because the light on the dash that is supposed to come on to show the airbags are working did not come on. We were advised that it must be taken to a dealer to have that fixed.
We did that and the dealer found that a piece of black foam/tape had been placed over the spot inside the dash to cover the light. The light warning that there was a faulty airbag had been coming on ever since we'd bought the truck but no one had been able to see it! It was sold to us in this condition. And the shop that's been inspecting it yearly for 10 years only noticed the light wasn't on this year. Hmmm.
The truck is a 1996 and it's blue book value is around $1400. The dealership wants $720 to put in a part (airbag controller) and that is no guarantee that will be the final fix. It most likely will require additional work. Otherwise, though, the truck is in great working condition and we fully expected to get several more years of use out of it.
It doesn't seem to make sense to put half its value into repairing it - with the strong possibility that it would in fact cost even more to really fix the problem even though its still a decent working vehicle. But it will cost us a LOT more to buy a newer used truck to replace it.
Are we just screwed? Should we see if our auto insurance would cover any of this? Should we take the dealer who sold us the truck to small claims? Or the auto shop who passed it for state inspection for the last 10 years and only now noticed the problem? We owe the dealer $170 for a diagnosis of a defect that should have been fixed before we were sold the vehicle. Do we have any legal recourse or are we stuck with sucking it up and buying another truck out of pocket?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
