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Is there anything I can do?

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rhall

Junior Member
I have an issue with a car I bought. I live in Oregon. I will start at the beginning...

My wife and I bought a car about a year ago. We went in with our 6 week old daughter to buy a bigger SUV. We went to a new car dealership not a run down shady used car place (hind site I guess they're all shady). We chose a 2007 Nissan Armada. I liked the vehicle, it drove great and had everything we wanted (including new tires that showed no wear). After about 5 hours we worked out the price we wanted and bought the car. So we get all the paperwork the loan forms, the DMV paperwork all signed with no issues. We drove away with the vehicle that night. 2-3 days later we get a call from the dealership because there is a form "we" forgot to sign, in other words they didn't give us the form. I am back to work and my wife is home with our 6 week old daughter. They told us we had to drive the 40 min drive back up there that night, to sign this piece of paper. They wouldn't fax it or mail we had to go up there. They couldn't finish the financing until we went up. So we felt we had no other choice and went up around 6:30 that night. They had "forgotten" to add in the price of the warranty that we purchased and forgotten to show us the carfax that showed as they put it a "minor" accident. (I know its not a great excuse but we weren't getting much sleep with our 6 week old and I had just gotten off work at the time.) We signed the form, decided to keep the warranty and acknowledged the fact that it had an accident.

First sign of trouble was a flat tire about a week after we bought it due to a cracked rim. These were aftermarket rims. The dealership paid to replace the first rim. Around a week later another leaking tire, another cracked rim. This time the dealership would not pay to replace, so I had to buy a new rim. At the time I asked them to check all the rims for any other damage. A 3rd rim was also discovered to be cracked. The rims were cracked on the inside wall (not the outside where they would be had I hit something, like a curb, which I hadn't) So I bought 2 new rims, the manager of the tire place said in 15 years he has never seen anything like that.
Jump forward to present. I noticed my front drivers side tire was wearing abnormally on the interior wall. I took my car back to the tire place I had been to replace the wheels at. The tire place told me they couldn't fix it and to take it to the dealership as they believed something was broken and it could be a major problem. The warranty requires the vehicle be serviced at the dealership we purchased it from. I took the vehicle into the dealership and they were unable to locate any problem. They did acknowledge the tire wear and that "something" had to be causing it but they couldn't say what that was. They recommended we try a body shop. I took my vehicle into Nissan to have their technicians look at it. They aligned 3 of my tires but said they were unable to align front drivers side tire because it was too far out of alignment. Both the tire place and Nissan suggested a kit from Nissan that may fix the issue. Nissan also said there may be frame damage and I would need to have it checked by a body shop. I am starting to think this "minor" accident wasn't as minor as they let on. I just got back from the body shop and after talking with them, they said I should contact an attorney. They aren't legal experts but felt something was off. They said there was major work done, the entire passenger side has been repainted. New hood, front bumper, passenger side fender, and other internal parts that can't be seen without getting under car. There was glass inside the passenger side door and masking tape still under the hood where they had repainted.
My question is do I have any recourse here? Can I go back to the dealership and ask them to make this right? I am not sure what right is, fixing the problems, or finding a way to get from under this car. Would hiring an attorney get me anywhere?
I was thinking about trading it in but the accident on the carfax is a red flag to dealerships and they offered me $4000 under bluebook. Please any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
 


sandyclaus

Senior Member
Since the you signed the form acknowledging that the vehicle had been in a prior accident and accepted it anyway, there isn't a thing you can do now.

What you NEEDED to do back then was to hire a private mechanic to do a thorough inspection of the vehicle PRIOR to completing the sale. That is something ANYONE purchasing a used vehicle needs to do. Doing that would very likely have revealed the extent of the damages you later discovered to be the result of this accident, and had you known sooner, you could have at least made a more informed choice of whether or not to purchase.

I'm almost certain that the extended warranty you purchased won't cover any of these pre-existing damages, or else I might tell you to try to get them fixed on the dealer's dime.

You made a very common mistake that many used car buyers make, and fell into the same trap - buying a vehicle that was intentionally misrepresented. But since you have no proof of it, you also have no legal recourse.

Enjoy the new car.
 

rhall

Junior Member
According to the body shop the damage was hard to spot. I have had cars that I bought at lesser dealerships checked out in the past, I assumed since this was a big well known new car dealership they were somewhat trustworthy. The practice of calling us back to come in three days later should have been the huge red flag, but the thought of going through buying another car, after spending hours there was not something we wanted to do and when they told us repeatedly that it was a "minor" accident we just were not in the right state of mind to made that decision. I guess we are SOL... Thanks for the info
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
intentionally misrepresented.
You can't assume that. A large volume dealership does not do a complete bumper to bumper inspection on every used vehicle they have for sale. (even more reason to have an independent mechanic look at it prior to purchase).
 

justalayman

Senior Member
A large volume dealership does not do a complete bumper to bumper inspection on every used vehicle they have for sale. .
unless they state they have performed such an inspection, presume they don't. Once some problem is discovered, they cannot claim ignorance so when asked, they either admit to the problem or lie, which leads to misrepresentation. So, ignorance is bliss when it comes to selling used cars.
 

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