i bought a car..and it all goes down here from there

What is the name of your state? tennessee

i bought a car that i found in an online newpaper classified ad. the ad stated the mileage, said it was in immaculate condition, had all the papers, and that it had been garaged. when i met the guy to look at it, he said the only thing that was wrong with it was the blower for the air was out and the driver's side windshield wiper didn't work. he said it was a great car and he drove it to work 3 days a week.

he also told me he and his father were going to start a business selling cars to the university students, but they had both been side tracked and now just needed to get rid of what they had.

i bought the car and when i went to register it, i found out that he had never registered it himself. so i called him and he told me the car was actually in his father's name and that his father was out of town and he would call me when he got back. during that time, i went to have the oil changed and was told that the oil couldn't be changed because the engine mounts were broke and that the oil hadn't been changed for quit some time. i called the guy who sold me the car and had to leave a message with his wife, no return call.
i ended up having it fixed and that cost me almost $300. and that's when i noticed that the odometer wasn't working. i called him about that, had to leave a message and didn't get a return call. i looked at the papers (yeah, all three of them) and saw that there was only a 200 mile difference between the broken odometer miles and the miles that were on the title from 2 years before. called again, nothing. then i took it in again for an oil change and was told they couldn't change it because there was a massive oil leak that needed repairing. $600.

i finally got in touch with him in may. i told him what was going on with the car and he acted clueless and told me he would work something out. we met up and i gave him the title and the plan was he was going to go register it and meet up with me again. he ends up mailing me the title back, unsigned and left me a message saying that his dad just started a health care facility, used the money from my car, and couldn't do anything to help.

in the meantime i get pulled over for registration violations and whatnot.

now i'm having to take him to court and pro bono is going to pick it up. i am fed up with the car and the situation and would love to drive it thru his living room. what is the likelyhood that i'd be able to get my money back for the car? what about the $800 i put into it?

thanks for the assistance ahead of time.

Did you specifically ask him if he knew the mounts were broken and there was an oil leak?

What did your mechanic say when he checked the car out before you bought it?

You drove the car with no registration (and no insurance?) since May? Why did you wait so long to get this worked out?

i bought a car that i found in an online newpaper classified ad. the ad stated the mileage, said it was in immaculate condition, had all the papers, and that it had been garaged [ quote by orig. poster ]

I'd like to know what theory the Pro Bono lawyer is going to use to try and recover your cost .

I can see possibly 3 reasons :

1 ) The son had no authority to sell a car that was not in his name .

2 ) You never received a valid title " For the purposes of what you purchased it for " , that is to drive on the highway.

3 ) The Ad , that said the car was in Immaculate condition . Although this theory by itself may not hold water .
The argument hear is , you could have brought a mechanic to inspect it,and you did not, even given the fact that you were told there were defects ( that should have sent up red flags ).

As far as tickets go. You knew you were driving a car that was not legal .
You'll most likely eat those cost.

Another thing you knew you didn't have a valid title to drive it,and yet you chose to start repairing it , and drove it anyways .

The law that you may lose on is " Buyer beware ".

I'm not going to do the research for you but it sounds like these people may have been working a scam and illegally operating a automobile dealership in violation to state regulations, so there could be some recourse and since they were using the internet there may be other state and federal violations. If your reasearch shows this to be the case follow up with what is appropriate. If you had immediately reported their failure to sign over the title when you discovered it in addition to trying to get them to do that you might have some options but you should have done that at point of sale. You are lucky you were not cited for a stolen vehicle.

Remember, any deal too good to be true, usually isn't!

You Are Guilty said:

Did you specifically ask him if he knew the mounts were broken and there was an oil leak?

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after i found out about it? yes. he said he didn't know about it. i asked him when he changed the oil and he said he didn't because he barely drove it.

What did your mechanic say when he checked the car out before you bought it?

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and no i didn't take it to a mechanic. yeah, i'm naive. i trusted this guy. i mean, his dad is a professor at my school and he works there, too.

You drove the car with no registration (and no insurance?) since May?

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i forgot to mention that i bought the car back in january, but yes, i had been driving it since january. but i haven't driven it since my ticket in may.

Why did you wait so long to get this worked out?

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aside from a family emergency that sent me back to ca. for a month in march, he'd been dodging me.

rmet4nzkx said:

I'm not going to do the research for you but it sounds like these people may have been working a scam and illegally operating a automobile dealership in violation to state regulations, so there could be some recourse and since they were using the internet there may be other state and federal violations. If your reasearch shows this to be the case follow up with what is appropriate. If you had immediately reported their failure to sign over the title when you discovered it in addition to trying to get them to do that you might have some options but you should have done that at point of sale. You are lucky you were not cited for a stolen vehicle.

Remember, any deal too good to be true, usually is!

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i actually talked to the guy who's name is on the title. he lives in n. carolina and he said he sold the guy the car (legally) and sent him all the correct paperwork. he also told me he tried to buy the car under an invalid business license.
so my friend's mother did some calling around and talked to someone at the dept. of safety. they want to investigate him, but i need to go and give them a statement of fact. among the many things they said he did illegally is he never registered my car and never paid taxes for it. and he's done this to other students.

this was the first car i've ever bought. i know i made alot of mistakes when i bought this car, but i'm learning from them. i never even knew the process of buying a car, but now that i've been in this mess i do.

Blonde Lebinese said:

I'd like to know what theory the Pro Bono lawyer is going to use to try and recover your cost .

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i was just accepted and i haven't talked with the lawyer i'll be working with yet.

As far as tickets go. You knew you were driving a car that was not legal .
You'll most likely eat those cost.

Another thing you knew you didn't have a valid title to drive it,and yet you chose to start repairing it , and drove it anyways .

The law that you may lose on is " Buyer beware ".

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thanks for the input. i made a thread in the traffic: non moving violations forum about what all i got a ticket for. could you please go there and tell me what all i'm looking at as far as court goes. (i got to court tuesday) thanks

The best you can hope for is the Judge is lenient with you, and you don't lose your license .

Since this person and his father the "professor" are in business together or at least using his position at the college to lure students by their own admissions report it to the college in addition to the other place where your other complaints are, also get a statement from the registered owner, you will need all of that for court, but at least you will have helped stopping it from happening to someone else. Good Luck.