Hi, this case is about a car purchased in California. The car was purchased from a private seller off of Craigslist.
We saw a posting on Craigslist for a car we were interested in. Met with "Bob" and looked at the car. Bob told us the car was in good working mechanical condition, had "91,000 miles", and passed smog.
All seems well, so cash and keys change hands and the title is "signed over".
This week, we take the car to a mechanic who tells us the car is crap. He inspects the car and says that the car actually has 162,000 miles and someone had turned back the odometer. Also, the car instantly fails a smog inspection. The car also has other sever mechanical problems that are expensive to fix.
I looked over all the documentation and saw that the title wasn't signed by "Bob," but rather by someone named "Jane Doe." So, I guess Bob bought the car from Jane, but never put the title into his name. He then flipped the car to us and it looks like Jane sold us the car, but that's not the case.
Is there anything we can do to recover our money? Can I sue Bob or take him to court? Are we out of luck? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.
We saw a posting on Craigslist for a car we were interested in. Met with "Bob" and looked at the car. Bob told us the car was in good working mechanical condition, had "91,000 miles", and passed smog.
All seems well, so cash and keys change hands and the title is "signed over".
This week, we take the car to a mechanic who tells us the car is crap. He inspects the car and says that the car actually has 162,000 miles and someone had turned back the odometer. Also, the car instantly fails a smog inspection. The car also has other sever mechanical problems that are expensive to fix.
I looked over all the documentation and saw that the title wasn't signed by "Bob," but rather by someone named "Jane Doe." So, I guess Bob bought the car from Jane, but never put the title into his name. He then flipped the car to us and it looks like Jane sold us the car, but that's not the case.
Is there anything we can do to recover our money? Can I sue Bob or take him to court? Are we out of luck? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.