used car sham?

[rolltide731]

i bought a used car from a dealership in los angeles, california about a month ago for $4500. in their ad they wrote, "car serviced by mechanic, ready to go". but about a week after i bought the car, the clutch gave out and i spent over $1200 in repairs. however, i signed a paper saying that there is no warranty on the car. but i would have never signed the paper or i would have never bought the car at the price i bought it for if i knew the clutch was bad off the bat. is it worth taking the dealership to small claims court and having them pay for my repairs? thanks

 

[shell007]

i bought a used car from a dealership about a month ago for $4500. in their ad they wrote, "car serviced by mechanic, ready to go". but about a week after i bought the car, the clutch gave out and i spent over $1200 in repairs. however, i signed a paper saying that there is no warranty on the car. but i would have never signed the paper or i would have never bought the car at the price i bought it for if i knew the clutch was bad off the bat. is it worth taking the dealership to small claims court and having them pay for my repairs? thanks

NO

What part of "there is NO WARRANTY on the car" don't you understand???

 

[THE PRACTICE]

i bought a used car from a dealership in los angeles, california about a month ago for $4500. in their ad they wrote, "car serviced by mechanic, ready to go". but about a week after i bought the car, the clutch gave out and i spent over $1200 in repairs. however, i signed a paper saying that there is no warranty on the car. but i would have never signed the paper or i would have never bought the car at the price i bought it for if i knew the clutch was bad off the bat. is it worth taking the dealership to small claims court and having them pay for my repairs? thanks

My response:

When you go to court, you'll discover that you have nothing. Caveat Emptor.

IAAL

 

[rolltide731]

NO

What part of "there is NO WARRANTY on the car" don't you understand???

yea...it's easy to sign a no warranty paper when it's already been "serviced by the mechanic". what part of "serviced by the mechanic" don't YOU understand?

 

[THE PRACTICE-1]

yea...it's easy to sign a no warranty paper when it's already been "serviced by the mechanic". what part of "serviced by the mechanic" don't YOU understand?

My response:

Okay, I'll play along . . . what does "serviced by the mechanic" mean to you? Whatever it means to you, I guarantee it will mean something different to me, and everyone else. So, go ahead . . . tell me what it means.

You're about to get a legal lesson in "puffing."

IAAL

 

[Just Blue]

yea...it's easy to sign a no warranty paper when it's already been "serviced by the mechanic". what part of "serviced by the mechanic" don't YOU understand?

Let me guess...You never had your own mechanic look the car over to make sure it was in good shape...did you?

 

[Zigner]

yea...it's easy to sign a no warranty paper when it's already been "serviced by the mechanic". what part of "serviced by the mechanic" don't YOU understand?

The clutch was fine a week before it gave out. Replacing a clutch is not "normal" service. If the clutch requires fluid, it would be topped off. You are dealing with a "wear and tear" item. Call it back luck, bad timing, whatever. You're still on the hook for it and the dealer has NO legal obligation to help you.

With that said, have you *nicely* asked the dealer to perhaps split the cost or help in some other way? They don't have to, but it makes for good PR, and car dealers like that kind of thing.

 

[You Are Guilty]

The clutch was fine a week before it gave out. Replacing a clutch is not "normal" service. If the clutch requires fluid, it would be topped off. You are dealing with a "wear and tear" item. Call it back luck, bad timing, whatever. You're still on the hook for it and the dealer has NO legal obligation to help you.

With that said, have you *nicely* asked the dealer to perhaps split the cost or help in some other way? They don't have to, but it makes for good PR, and car dealers like that kind of thing.

Testing a clutch to see if it's "on the way out" is quite possibly the easist thing in the world for someone to do, which leads me to conclude that not only did our poster fail to have this car inspected by his own mechanic, he didn't even test drive it himself. If I were the dealer, I know exactly what my response would be to a customer who wanted me to pay for a blown clutch on a car with no warranty that was out of my possession for a week, and it wouldn't be nearly as nice as some of the responses here