Need Legal Advice ASAP

[LIORA000]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MI

We are from Florida. Few weeks ago we purchased a 2014 used vehicle with a Salvage Flood title on Ebay. The seller is a used car dealer from Michigan.
The car description in the listing as the following:

"This vehicle was in a parking lot flood that got the carpet slightly wet and was vaccumed immediately after. I replaced the carpet with brand new carpet that I purchased from the Ford dealer. Everything works 100% perfect, you will have no problems with this 2014 Ford Focus Titanium!"

"This car runs and drives excellent! It rolls smooth and straight down the road with no shimmies or shakes nor rattles or clunks. It starts and drives perfect, it does not miss a beat! "

"90 Day-Warranty!"

It took us about 2 weeks to ship and receive the car. The first time we inspected the car we found rust in places that clearly indicated that the water wasn't only on the carpet. We also felt the car was shaking when put in reverse but since we are out of state and didn't know what to do we hoped for the best.

We purchased this vehicle with a 90 day warranty. We had the car for only 6 weeks and we drove it less than 100 miles.

Last Friday while driving the car it was acting strange and transmission failure error code appeared on the screen. It was not possible to shift gears or continue driving the car. We had to stop the car and call for a tow truck. We towed the car to the nearest Ford dealership and on Monday received a $1300 repair estimate for replacing the transmission clutch. The dealer/seller was notified immediately on Friday when the car failed. He was also notified by Ford dealership service and received a copy of the repair estimate.

We contacted the dealer/seller who was arguing it is a design flaw of the manufacturer and should be a recall. He offered to cover only 50% of the repair cost.

Needless to say that we are very frustrated and need to rent a car in order to commute every day.

Currently, the car is waiting to be fixed at the dealership What can we do? What are our options?

 

[Dave1952]

I think you would be wise to pay a mechanic to take a look at your car, the transmission may not be the only problem. Once you know (hopefully) what is wrong with your car send that to the dealer and request his advice on how you should handle your claim.
If the tranny is the only problem I'd think that the dealer's "50%" offer is the way to go unless you want to transport the car to Mich. for repairs.

 

[Zigner]

I think you would be wise to pay a mechanic to take a look at your car, the transmission may not be the only problem. Once you know (hopefully) what is wrong with your car send that to the dealer and request his advice on how you should handle your claim.
If the tranny is the only problem I'd think that the dealer's "50%" offer is the way to go unless you want to transport the car to Mich. for repairs.

Psstt -

The OP took the car to a local Ford dealer. That would pretty much cover the "mechanic" part

ETA: I do agree that the OP would likely need to transport the car back to the selling dealer for warranty work. Of course, his/her warranty may have other provisions that we are unaware of.

 

[Dave1952]

I could be wrong but I think the local mechanic only looked at the transmission issue. They need to have a mechanic give the car a "general" examination such as is common when purchasing a used car.

 

[STEPHAN]

I know it is to late, buy buying a used car out of state via ebay is not a smart idea.... I guess you will not do it again anyway.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MI

We are from Florida. Few weeks ago we purchased a 2014 used vehicle with a Salvage Flood title on Ebay. The seller is a used car dealer from Michigan.
The car description in the listing as the following:

"This vehicle was in a parking lot flood that got the carpet slightly wet and was vaccumed immediately after. I replaced the carpet with brand new carpet that I purchased from the Ford dealer. Everything works 100% perfect, you will have no problems with this 2014 Ford Focus Titanium!"

"This car runs and drives excellent! It rolls smooth and straight down the road with no shimmies or shakes nor rattles or clunks. It starts and drives perfect, it does not miss a beat! "

"90 Day-Warranty!"

It took us about 2 weeks to ship and receive the car. The first time we inspected the car we found rust in places that clearly indicated that the water wasn't only on the carpet. We also felt the car was shaking when put in reverse but since we are out of state and didn't know what to do we hoped for the best.

We purchased this vehicle with a 90 day warranty. We had the car for only 6 weeks and we drove it less than 100 miles.

Last Friday while driving the car it was acting strange and transmission failure error code appeared on the screen. It was not possible to shift gears or continue driving the car. We had to stop the car and call for a tow truck. We towed the car to the nearest Ford dealership and on Monday received a $1300 repair estimate for replacing the transmission clutch. The dealer/seller was notified immediately on Friday when the car failed. He was also notified by Ford dealership service and received a copy of the repair estimate.

We contacted the dealer/seller who was arguing it is a design flaw of the manufacturer and should be a recall. He offered to cover only 50% of the repair cost.

Needless to say that we are very frustrated and need to rent a car in order to commute every day.

Currently, the car is waiting to be fixed at the dealership What can we do? What are our options?

Following are two links, one to Michigan's Secretary of State on "Salvage Titles" in Michigan and the second from the Michigan Attorney General's Office warning of flood-damaged vehicles.

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1585_1587_1588-76323--,00.html

http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-17337_20942_21106-294095--,00.html

Once a car has a "salvage" title in Michigan, it cannot be driven on public roads until it has been recertified. The total estimated damage to a salvage vehicle will be from 75% to 91% of its pre-damaged value (far more than mere carpet damage, if replacing the carpet is all the dealer claims he did to the car).

Dealers in Michigan can buy salvage vehicles and dealers in Michigan can sell salvage vehicles, as long as they disclose to the buyer that the vehicle is salvage. But the advertisement for the salvage vehicle was definitely misleading (to false).

You can file a complaint with Michigan's Attorney General. Information on filing a complaint can be found in the second link I provided above, and you might want to do this if you have a problem with the dealer. Be sure to include a copy of the dealer's advertisement for the car.