Car Buying Gone Bad

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

Hello. I recently bought a car and found out that the mileage is way higher than the guy i bought it off of told me it was. He knew it was higher but didn't tell me. But i will give you a full rundown so hopefully you can see the situation as a whole and instruct me as best you can.

One day, I was cruising Craigslist looking for a car for myself. I saw one that i liked and called the guy about it because it was in my price range. The car is a 94 Acura Integra GS-R. When i called him, the first thing that i asked him was how many miles were on the car, because the mileage determines how long the car will potentially last. He didn't list the mileage in the ad, and when i called he told me it had about 85000 miles on it. So i decided to go out and look at the car later that evening. I walked around the car and noticed a few things right off the bat, including the owners behavior. The first thing i noticed was that the odometer on the car read 98xxx. I also noticed that it was in km's and kmph's. I asked him about this. He told me that the previouse owner had some special kind of cluster in the car and he had it removed to lower the price of the car. This is legal to do, but you must disclose the mileage when the vehicle is being sold. Also, the title of the car says EXEMPT in the mileage section and says that MILEAGE IS EXEMPT BY FEDERAL LAW. I don't understand why it's exempt or what would make it exempt, so that is one thing that i am just wondering about. He told me that the car also had never been wrecked eithet. But i continued to walk around the car and noticed that there were spots raised up around the rear quater panel above the wheel wells. I asked him if it was rust and he told me that it was "undercoated" with some kind of protecting agent to help prevent rust. In the listing online, he said that the car had no rust. Also, the drivers door was sticking and i asked him if the door was sagging or not. He said no, it was because it had a new seal on it. After i bought the car he said it must not be the seal and maybe a pin in the door was bent or something. He also told me that the car had brand new tires, maybe a week old, and now, almost 2 months later, the front tires are nearly bald, and i know i never did any burnouts or drive too aggressively to make them bald. He had answers for every question that i had and the explanations that made sense for the most part. So i decided that i wanted to get it, but i wanted to have my dad look at it first. So the next day, i gave him half of the money to hold the car for me. We agreed to a price of $5610 for the car. So i gave him $2750 the one day, and the rest a couple days after when we transferred the title. I gave him an extra $110 so i could keep the aftermarket radio that was in the car, which i decided to keep the day we signed the car over. We went to a notary to have him write an agreement so that he couldn't screw me and take my money and run off with the car too. So the notary wrote an agreement that said i was going to buy the car for a price of $5500, $2750 paid today and the rest due by June 3rd. I don't have that paper anymore. I threw it away because i wasn't anticipating finding out that the car had higher miles than what he told me. When we signed the car over to me, we said that i only paid $3000 for the car, and $2500 for the "aftermarket parts." So the pinkslip says i paid $3000, and that is the only thing in writing stating how much i paid for the car. So a few weeks after i bought the car, i stumbled upon the previous owner, the guy who owned it before the guy i bought if from, on an integra website. He had a post trying to sell the car and stated that it had about 240 or 250k miles on it. Seeing this shocked me, and i contacted him to ask him more questions about the car. He told me things about the car such as that it was in an accident and that if i were to look at the drivers door, the VIN wouldn't match the rest of the car and that there was a dent in the door jamb. He told me that he told the guy he sold it to about the mileage and that it had been wrecked too. After finding all of this out about the car i bought, i started to go to the police to see what i could do. They told me that there was nothing "criminal" about what happened and that i would have to take him to small claims court and tell them that he sold me the car under false pretenses. I am currently waiting for my court date to come. I am wondering what all i can do to prepare myself for the hearing because i know this guy isn't going to go down without a fight because he is know online for being a scammer. I want to know how i can be best prepared to try to get my money back. I tried to "beat the system" by saying i only paid $3000 for it, but i payed more and want to know how i can try to get that back. My dad saw the car and the guy told him it had 85k on it and was never wrecked. My friend was with me when i gave him the money both times and when the notary wrote the agreement about paying for the car. I want to win this case and get my money back because i am moving and need my money to buy another car. Also, i want to know about the possible situations that the judge could rule, and the outcome of all of them. Also, if i win and he awards me my money back, but the guy doesn't pay, how can i make sure i get my money? Thanks to all who read this far and thanks to anyone who can give me any helpful advice.

I think you're going to have trouble getting your money returned on this one. Most used car sales are AS-IS. You had a right to have your mechanic inspect it before you purchased it where hopefully some of the problems would have been noted. Now you're left with a situation where you would have to prove fraud in order to reverse the sale. You would somehow have to prove the previous owner not only knew about the previous wreck but he actually told you there hadn't been one. This means that you would need witnesses appear at your court proceedings that would say they told him the car was wrecked as well as witnesses saying they heard him tell you the car had never been wrecked -- usually hearsay or signed statements aren't accepted. In any case, it's still up to the judge to make the decision whether you or he is believable -- because you know he will be denying it. Your credibility is affected because of the untruth told about the sales price of the car.

The guy that had the car before him said that he disclosed the mileage to him and the fact that it had been wrecked before selling him the car. He said that the guy i bought it from lowballed him on the price to get it cheap. He said that he would testify against him in court when i go. Also, when my father came to look at the car with me, the guy told him it had only 85k miles and had never been wrecked. The advertisement he posted online also has it listed as no accidents. Also, when i found out about the true mileage of the vehicle, both through the previous owner and a CARFAX report, i called him to ask him about it. I asked him if the car only had 85k on it, and if it had never been wrecked. He told me that that was the correct mileage and it had never been wrecked, at least not to his knowledge. My friend was sittitng right next to me when he said that and overheard him saying that on the phone. In regards to the price, he sent me a text message when i gave him $600 the first time i met with him and asked him to hold the car for me. I paid him the $2150, the rest of the first half, the next day. The text message he sent me said: 400 paid, 4900 owed. He told me that that would serve as a receipt. I have since deleted the text message because i never thought i would need to hold on to it. I talked to my phone company and they said i would have to get a subpoena from my lawyer or something like that to retrieve the message, and that there was no guarantee it would be accessable because it was nearly 2 months ago. Would i be able to use the text message as evidence to how much i paid or is it worthless? I just want to know if i should pay to get a lawyer involved with it or not. If i don't have a chance, then i don't want to be set back any more money than i already am. But if that may increase my chances of winning, than it is definitely worth my while.