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Do I have a valid small claims case?

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rpm2

Junior Member
I recently bought a car from a private seller in Illinois and we live in Wisconsin.

We're trying to get to the bottom of car inspection that we asked for prior to purchase, and was handled and coordinated by the seller, at least I thought he just drove the car to the dealer. I was in direct contact with the dealer doing the inspection with phone conversations. I had to fax a payment authorization form to them.

After picking up the car we discovered a problem that we didn't notice on our test drive. We had already scheduled an appointment with another dealer to do an oil change. They diagnosed a repair that they estimated around $900. I called the seller and at that time he said he was willing to cover a small portion of the repair.

I called the dealer who did the inspection and asked how they missed the problem (it was easy to detect by the other dealer). They told me they knew about this problem and only communicated it to the seller. They also stated they wrote the problem on the Work Order. This is the basis of our complaint.

Now back to the inspection time- we were in a discussion with the seller after the inspection. After the dealer completed the inspection the seller called me and told me the results (not this repair) and told me the dealer couldn't send me the inspection report because of some non-disclosure policy. We didn't know about this. I asked him to give them permission to fax it to me. In the end I got this fax from the dealer ( I confirmed was 2 pages) an Inspection Report with checked items on it. There was no indication of any major issues that alarmed us.

So at this point we have written a letter to the dealer and seller.

To the dealer we asked
> Why didn't they inform us of the non-disclosure policy when I signed the authorization payment form? We were shown as the customer on this form.
> Why did they agree to fax a partial inspection report that looked complete at face value. They admitted on phone call later that they knew there was repair work to be done which was on the Work Order?
>Why didn't they document the repair on the inspection report?

To the seller we asked
> Why this problem wasn't disclosed to us. He says the dealer didn't tell him and it wasn't documented on the Work Order.

The seller has been in contact since and tells me he will mail his copy of the Work Order and a check which he stated he would pay. He said it would go out the next day. I have not heard or received this letter a week later.

There were a lot of other issues going on with the car so the inspection was key to us. We believe we would have walked from the purchase had we known about this repair.

Do we have a case against both or either (dealer or seller)? Is it worth pursuing given court costs? Should we use a lawyer?

We have since found a cheaper repair alternative by half. Still we are concerned there are other documented issues on this Work Order that we don't know about yet.

We are trying to log all of our phone calls, and we are sending certified letters to the seller and dealer. At this point, we believe the seller is trying to avoid us.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


sandyclaus

Senior Member
What I don't understand is why you bought the vehicle before even seeing the inspection report?

Since you were smart enough to demand such an inspection, it would have been very important to see the results before shelling out the money and finalizing the deal. The fact that the results were undisclosed prior to completing the sale (a big mistake on your part), implied that no matter what the inspection revealed, it was good enough to follow through with that sale.

I don't believe you have any recourse against the seller (they did not fail to disclose anything). As far as the seller is concerned, the car was purchased with no warranty or conditional guarantee, and what you got was good enough at the time of the sale.

You MAY have recourse against the initial inspector because they failed to disclose information on the inspection report you received, and that inspection report differed from the one allegedly supplied to the seller. This could be a fraud issue, and definitely worthy of an investigation. Report this to the local authority who certifies repair and mechanical services in your area.
 

rpm2

Junior Member
I guess I believed I was getting the full inspection report

I never knew there was additional information documented on the Work Order. Everything seemed up front at the time other than that one conversation with the seller after the inspection. I thought it was all cleared up when they faxed this 2-page report.

I was also in contact with the dealer during the inspection and they were answering my questions. Thinking back though, I had to direct my questions before they said anything.

And I have been in contact with the dealer since and they've indicated there is nothing they can do since the Seller's name was on the Work Order.

I did have a conversation with a Lawyer and they thought the dealer should have refused to send a partial report if they knew there was documented information somewhere else.

Bottom line the car is okay (we think) after we fix and sort out all the issues. There are more too.

I would definitely handle this differently in the future though.

Thanks for your feedback.
 

rpm2

Junior Member
One additional comment

I did get the inspection report before buying the car. And it was clean. Just to clarify the dealer confirmed they faxed this 2-page report the same day they did the inspection.
 

rpm2

Junior Member
You are correct

I still signed a payment authorization form and faxed it to the dealer to do the inspection. The dealer was also fully aware I was purchasing the car. This was no small time operation - it was an authorized dealer which I accepted. I was also constantly on the phone with the service writer asking them various questions. I'm sure I was annoying to them.

Bottom line though you are correct. I should have been in control of making the appointment or being at the dealer in person. Things were moving fast at the time and the fact I was in Wisconsin and the seller was in Illinois didn't help. I know this isn't a good excuse, but at the time I really thought I was doing everything right.

I still wonder why the dealer admitted to faxing a partial report when they new about information on the work order. I still think the dealer should have just refused to fax the report on behalf of the seller. Why did they get in the middle of things? Who knows of course. They were very open afterwords that they clearly told the seller about the problem. And based on my follow up inspection at the other dealer and since then I know first hand they knew about the problem. They could describe the issue perfectly. So I still believe the seller knew about it.

It sounds like I will never know.

Thanks again!
 

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