Bad Car Deal - Odometer Rollback

What is the name of your state? North Carolina

I recently bought a car for $1500 (91 Buick Regal--70,000 miles). After I bought it, I found out from Carfax that the odometer was rolled back at least 45000 miles (probably a lot more). The car dealer told me it was not his problem because he did not roll back the odometer and didn't know about it. I have had the car for two weeks and have already put an AC compressor in it ($500). To make matters worse, this is the second car I bought from him. The first one was a lot more expensive and had unreasonably low mileage. Although Carfax was clean, I still worry about it. Any suggestions as to what I should do? Should I get a lawyer? Granted it is not a whole lot of money, but I don't like the idea of his getting away with it and continuing to cheat people.

Thank you,
Z
(Feel free to email [email protected])

You need to have a talk with the DMV section that oversees car dealers. It looks very suspicious, and most states make the dealer carry the burden of responsibility regarding mileage.

dallas702 said:

You need to have a talk with the DMV section that oversees car dealers. It looks very suspicious, and most states make the dealer carry the burden of responsibility regarding mileage.

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and the title history of the car, the title has the mileage on it, if you can get the copies of the title from each time it has been transferred then you may easily find out who owned it when the mileage was changed

who's ultimately responsible?

Who is ultimately responsible if the odometer was turned back? Me (Buyer Beware?). The dealer? The person who owned the car when the odometer was rolled back? What do you think the DMV will do?
Thank you for your input.

Z

I don't know what the exact legal ramifications are, but the person who owned the car when the odometer was rolled back is where the responsiblity starts, if the car has been sold 3 times since then, I don't know if you will actually end up getting any relief.

but the person who owned it when it was changed is the person who can get into some trouble

This is some very suspicious activity by the dealer. Be aware that the dealer could be on the hook for treble (triple) damages if it can be shown that he was aware of the odometer "problem'.

I say "problem" because it wouldn't have to result from an intentional rollback. If the odometer was just broken, and he knew it, he has to disclose it. That's triple damages for YOU, BTW.