What are my rights?

[LawyerGirl2009]

North Carolina

Case Scenario:


Back in 2007, I purchased a 1999 Cadillac Deville from a "Buy Here, Pay Here" care lot in NC, where I currently reside. I entered into a contract which required me to pay a down payment of approx. $2400, and I was supposed to pay $300/monthly for 18 months to pay the car off. I believe the car's price was approx. $5000. I also purchased a warranty that would cover any major maintenance on the car b/c the original one had expired. Well, within the same week I purchased the car, I began to have problems with the car. It began to overheat and I had been having some trouble with turning the key in the ignition because it would lock up from time to time. I ended up taking the car back to them to have it serviced a few times, and they did something to "patch it up" per say. I was told that the car was low on coolant, to explain the overheating, and they ordered a new key to resolve the ignition issue, but this did not help. I am guessing that they did not fix either of the issues, b/c approx. a month later, the car shut down on me in the middle of an intersection. I contacted the car lot and they told me to bring the car in so they could so called "take a look" at the car. I had begun to get a bad vibe that something wasn't right with those people, so I had the car towed to a trusted mechanic instead. I was informed by the mechanic that the Starter and the Water Pump needed to be replaced, which was very costly maintenance; and he also told me that this had to be a "pre-existing" problem. I then contacted the car lot to inform them of this and I asked them if they would be covering this maintenance, but they clearly told me "No," and I was informed that this maintenance was not covered in the warranty. I then went back and referred to the warranty, and to my surprise, the exact things that were wrong with the car mysteriously weren't covered under the warranty, and this was clearly stated in the warranty. I then took it upon myself to hire an attorney because I knew these people would continue to give me a hassle with repairing the car. After the attorney reviewed my case, he stated that it was common for a warranty to state only what is covered on the vehicle, and that is was "unusual language" for them to state what "is not" covered in a warranty. He believed I had a case, so he mailed them a letter stating that they should either reimburse my down payment and any other payments made so far, offer me another vehicle at the same price, or repair the car at no expense to me. They refused to reimburse my down payment, so they offered to repair the car or allow me to choose another vehicle. I refused b/c I did not trust that they would honestly repair the car, and I definitely didn't want another lemon from them. I decided to keep the car and get it repaired myself, but they tried to repossess the car b/c I refused to pay anymore payments to them. Well, long story short; they came and repossessed my car today, October 14, 2009; over 2 years later. What can I do and what rights am I entitled to under the law?

[Antigone*of*Greece]

Originally Posted by LawyerGirl2009

North Carolina

Case Scenario:


Back in 2007, I purchased a 1999 Cadillac Deville from a "Buy Here, Pay Here" care lot in NC, where I currently reside. I entered into a contract which required me to pay a down payment of approx. $2400, and I was supposed to pay $300/monthly for 18 months to pay the car off. I believe the car's price was approx. $5000. I also purchased a warranty that would cover any major maintenance on the car b/c the original one had expired; and the warranty clearly stated what was and was not covered. Well, within the same week I purchased the car, I began to have problems with the car. It began to overheat and I had been having some trouble with turning the key in the ignition because it would lock up from time to time. I ended up taking the car back to them to have it serviced a few times, and they did something to "patch it up" per say. I was told that the car was low on coolant, to explain the overheating, and they ordered a new key to resolve the ignition issue, but this did not help. I am guessing that they did not fix either of the issues, b/c approx. a month later, the car shut down on me in the middle of an intersection. I contacted the car lot and they told me to bring the car in so they could so called "take a look" at the car. I had begun to get a bad vibe that something wasn't right with those people, so I had the car towed to a trusted mechanic instead. I was informed by the mechanic that the Starter and the Water Pump needed to be replaced, which was very costly maintenance; and he also told me that this had to be a "pre-existing" problem. I then contacted the car lot to inform them of this and I asked them if they would be covering this maintenance, but they clearly told me "No," and I was informed that this maintenance was not covered in the warranty. I then went back and referred to the warranty, and to my surprise, the exact things that were wrong with the car mysteriously weren't covered under the warranty, and this was clearly stated in the warranty. I then took it upon myself to get hire attorney because I knew these people would continue to give me a hassle with repairing the car. After the attorney reviewed my case, he stated that it was common for a warranty to state only what is covered on the vehicle, and that is was "unusual language" for them to state what "is not" covered in a warranty. He believed I had a case, so he mailed them a letter stating that they should either reimburse my down payment, offer me another vehicle at the same price, or repair the car at no expense to me. They refused to reimburse my down payment, so they offered to repair the car or allow me to choose another vehicle. I refused b/c I did not trust that they would honestly repair the car, and I definitely didn't want another lemon from them. I decided to keep the car and get it repaired myself, but they tried to repossess the car b/c I refused to pay anymore payments to them. Well, long story short; they came and repossessed my car today, October 14, 2009; over 2 years later. What can I do and what rights am I entitled to under the law?

You had the right to make your payments on time. You now have the right to pay them in full and get your car back. Lawyergirl, you should know that lemon laws don't apply to used car sales.

[Zigner]

Carmax lists only the items they don't cover. That's because it's a pretty small list.