Nightmare on Christmas Day

[mnsweeps]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA ( bought car from TX on ebay )

Okay so we ( 4 adults and 2 kids ) go in our 2007 HiHy with 16100 miles on it to Las Vegas from LA. Alls good and we spend the Christmas eve night in Vegas. The problem starts when we start driving back to LA on Dec 25 around 5 pm..here is the sequence..

4:45 pm - Start from Vegas towards LA on I-15 freeway.

5:35 pm - Car starts giving a funny noise from the front. CHECK VSC warning shows up on dash.

5:45 pm - We continue driving and now we also see the CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM warning .

5:46 pm - CHECK ENGINE light turns on ..Note we are driving at 65 mph on I-15 south and we have pass PRIMM about 5 miles back and into CA state.

5:47 pm - CAR COMPLETELY SLOWS AND STALLS ON I-15. We immediately put flashers.

5:49 pm - Calls 911.

NOTE THE WEATHER DURING THE ENTIRE TIME IS HORRIBLE. ITS RAINING, ICE ON ROAD, SNOW FLAKES and very very WINDY ...

5:55 pm - A 18 wheeler puts emergency brakes and flashers behind us to avoid hittting us from behind..If he had hit us we wont know what would have happened. 2 kids ( 2 yrs old and 4 yrs old ) were in the 3rd row seat in car seats ..

5:58 pm - I walk out of car and stand behind on side and wave traffic away from my car.

NOTE: ITS BONE CHILLING COLD OUTSIDE WITH RAIN,SLEET AND ICE...

6:15 pm - NV state road safety guy shows up( we are on border between NV/CA inside CA). He parks his big truck with flashers on behind us so that no one hits us from behind. Note that we are stalled along a curve and with zero visibilty we were not to be see from more than a quarter mile.

Between 6 - 6:30 pm I make numerous calls to AAA for towing us.

6:20 pm - CHP officer shows up and he uses his car to push our car to the left shoulder. ( There is no right shoulder there as there was a concrete divider due to road work ).
Officer tells us AAA should show up soon as we had called them.

6:30 pm - 10:10 pm -
We are there on left shoulder in pitch darkness with only the passing car headlights lighting us. Weather is getting worse with high windy and heavy rains..Temps dip to around 40s....There are 4 adults and 2 kids in car and we have already repleshied our food by 6:30 pm...THERE IS NO FOOD OR WATER IN CAR since 6:30 pm .

7.00 pm - All Electricals in car die including FLASHERS , dash lights , overhead lights and even horn....We couldn't turn on heater since the engine died anyway.

Numerous calls to AAA / CHP / Nevada Highway Patrol via 911 were made for any help as the AAA guy didnt show up. AAA was having a hard time getting our location as we were in middle of nowwhere even thought PRIMM was about 5-7 miles behind us. AAA kept telling us they are trying to get someone with flatbed and crewcab to our location.

One of the phones had GPS and it pointed to WHEATON SPRINGS in CA off I-15. We relayed this info to AAA but they still didnt know where we are..

by 8 pm all our cellphones are dead except 1 which had 1 single bar.

Meantime the kids are stressed out and crying because of hunger , cold weather , darkness and the chaos / commotion inside car. Our legs and hands are getting to the frozen point and keep ourself warm by rubbing each others hands and legs..we made sure kids are warm to the best of our ability.

By 8:10 pm the car is covered with ice all over and we cant even look outside through the glass....

Numerous calls to 911 and AAA followed with the only phone with charge....

9:40 pm Paramedics from AMR show up and tell us they can get us to PRIMM and we can leave our cars. We were all taken into the Van from our car to warm ourself....I told them to call AAA and see what the status of AAA truck is..He confirmed that they should arrive by 10:11 PM. Paramedics get called for an accident up the freeway so we get back to our car and they leave us....They said they will be driving back this way and will check on us.

10:10 pm - AAA flat bed ( local towing company ) shows up. He had to come from LAS VEGAS to pick us up....He has space only for 1 adult and 2 kids in his crew cab which is warm.
So 4 adults ( including me ) sat in the car on tow truck and 2 kids with mom sat inside crew cab....

4:30 am - We reach our destination in LA after 1 stop in Barstow ( for food )...all 4 adults including me sat in frozen car for over 5 hrs..we had a hard time keeping ourself warm...all our hands and legs and nose were just frozen .....

Towing company charged us $1200 to tow from CA/NV border to LA which I think is ridiculous. He mentioned its Christmas day and late night and all those reasons to charge us a lot of money...

9:45 am - Called AAA to drop the car at local LA Toyota dealer.

Last evening the dealer called and said its a transmission issue. Also he mentioned that the car was in an accident before and some parts repaired/replaced like transmission/radiator etc....I bought the car from a private dealer in TX online and he never mentioned this to me about 10 months back...The carfax report and title are all clear..I understand carfax may not show up the accident if not gone thru insurance...The buyers guide mentions as-is warranty but private dealer whom i bought it from has written FACTORY WARRANTY on it personally**************.Toyota is sending a rep on Tuesday to see if this is covered under warranty or not....if not dealer said cost may be upto $5000...man, I am so stressed out...whats the resource I can take now? I do have access to attorneys through my company...Isnt it fraudulent in TX or most states not to disclose such a major accident ?? I am so stressed...didnt sleep well...

[TimStudiesLaw]

If you bought it used, and CARFAX shows no record of an accident, the dealer probably didn't know either. They can't be expected to disclose facts they are not aware of.

The buyer's guide said AS-IS, this means the dealer is providing no warranty on the vehicle. They wrote FACTORY on the buyer's guide - that indicates you are entitled to the transferable balance of the factory's limited warranty.

I hope Toyota covers the trans for you. Good luck.

[mnsweeps]

Originally Posted by TimStudiesLaw

If you bought it used, and CARFAX shows no record of an accident, the dealer probably didn't know either. They can't be expected to disclose facts they are not aware of.

The buyer's guide said AS-IS, this means the dealer is providing no warranty on the vehicle. They wrote FACTORY on the buyer's guide - that indicates you are entitled to the transferable balance of the factory's limited warranty.

I hope Toyota covers the trans for you. Good luck.

Thanks for note..I have email conversations with dealer ( independent dealer ) and he mentioned this car belonged to his close friend and he is doing him a favor by selling it ...How can a dealer not be aware that his friends cars was in an accident? You think his friend would have never told him ??

[stealth2]

His friend may not be the original owner, either.

But why on earth would you have the car towed that far on Christmas? It would have made much more sense to have it brought somewhere local and y'all to have stayed the night in a hotel/motel. That's kind of a no-brainer.

[mnsweeps]

Originally Posted by stealth2

His friend may not be the original owner, either.

But why on earth would you have the car towed that far on Christmas? It would have made much more sense to have it brought somewhere local and y'all to have stayed the night in a hotel/motel. That's kind of a no-brainer.

there is only one owner per carfax...do you even know which part of world I was stuck?

[>Charlotte<]

Originally Posted by mnsweeps

do you even know which part of world I was stuck?

You said you were near the border on I-15. You were 200 miles from L.A. and 50 miles from Las Vegas. It really was a no brainer, but it does sound like your brain might have been pretty frazzled by then.

[stealth2]

Originally Posted by mnsweeps

do you even know which part of world I was stuck?

Yep. Driven that route several times. It's still a no-brainer.

[SIN EATER]

This isn't my field of expertise. but ...
Google "Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act" - it offers additional protection for consumers. The dealer's actions may have violated this act.

There's quite a bit of successful litigation in different arenas using this fairly new act.

Even if the sale is 'as is', there may still be a violation.

[url]http://library.findlaw.com/2000/Mar/1/130722.html[/url]

[url]http://www.texasbar.com/Content/ContentGroups/Public_Information1/Legal_Resources_Consumer_Information/Consumer_Protection1/Texas_Deceptive_Trade_Practices_Consumer_Protection_Act.htm[/url]