Dealer misrepresented milaege of car

[justalayman]

thanks Zigner. I'll have to go back to believing JETX. Always was a safe bet before. Don't know why I didn't this time



Anyway, MjB. Did you recieve a mileage disclosure statement. Honestly don't knwo what form they come in your state. I believe in my state, the title acts as the form but there is a box to indicate "actual mileage unkown". I have also seen seperate mileage disclosure forms.

You should have something that is titled "mileage disclosure" somewhere.

what does it state.

If you do not have one, then you may have something going.

 

[Mjb72]

Some more info

Just reading the responses to my quiestion and thinking about this whole trasaction some thing occured to me that I didnt think were relevent before but perhaps they are, please here me out on this.

When the salesman originally showed me the vehicle prior to test driving I do not recall there being a Wisconsin Buyers Guide affixed to any of the windows, there was however a paper on the dash stating that the vehicle had not been inspected for sale as is required by law in Wisconsin, I recall reading that somewhere in my research. Keep in mind that the date of this transaction was Feb 9th 07. When he retrieved the keys he told me that he had to drive it off the lot due to the fact it had not been inspected. That sounded reasonable at the time however, stay with me on this. He drove the car about 1 mile, 2 at best around a couple city blocks making a point of showing me that the engine ran and acelerated good, the heat worked and the brakes were working good. After this short drive he pulled back into the lot, never offering to let me drive it. Yea, I know that was a mistake I should have insisted on driving it but remeber I was buying on a limited budjet and could not detect anything of concern from the ride and this car was alleged to have only 56k miles on it. Heres where I find it intresting, when signing all the paperwork I was presented with a copy of the Wisconsin Buyers Guide. On it was listed some minor defect with exception to the fact that the transmion was marked for problems. I noticed nothing durring the test drive so I foolishly figured it was something minor. As far as the description of the transmision problem it only state, late shifting. Heck that could be just some minor adjustment. Well after all is said and done and I go to leave suddenly there was a window sticker in the drivers side rear door window, mind you this is an original copy and the date on this inspection report is Jan 31st???? Why over a week to put it on the car I wonder? After some thought, I think I may know why they pulled that. I think I got a double wammy actually. First the mileage then hiding the real transmison problem.
Heres the real story about the trans. When the car is cold, all is fine but as soon as the car gets to operating temp, 2 miles or so, when you come to a stop it seems to come out of gear. I dont know how else to expain it but when you git the gas its as if its in neutral then without warning it will suddenly re-engage and you can take of normally. Also once warmed up it will not go into reverse properly just as it does in drive. Have to feather the gas to get it to engage. Now I know Wisconsin law required disclosure of problems that can be found with reasonable car but unless a test drive is just a jog around the block for the inspection there is no way in hell they didnt know about this. When I left I barely made it 2 miles and already experieced the problem, went to take of to enter the freeway and go home, no go. All of a sudden "clunk" and it jerks back to life.

I suspect the tag in the window stating it wasnt inspected was a convienient excuse for the salesman to drive the car, keeping it from comming to operating temp thereby concealing the defect from me. Anyone have any thoughts on that, this is in addition to the mileage misrepresentation. I think this piece of work knew a lot more then he was telling.

So far I have made 2 attempts to discuss this directly with the dealer. On Sat 2-10 I talked to the salesman who for all purpouses was trying to blow smoke up my a**, he told me to call the office manager on Monday 2-12. I did and was told she was not in and that she should be there Tue feb 13, so I am going to call again. Ive also looked them up under the Better Business Beareu and discoverd they have several complaints against them, no details but complaints in about every category. Not much surprise there I supose after all there a used car dealer. In any case I intend to file a complaint with the BBB if I cant get any resolve from the dealer.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this matter.

MJB

 

[IWasTakenToo]

I don't know if you're still dealing with this, but I'm in Ohio and used to work for a car dealership. The Odometer Disclosure is taken VERY seriously. Looking at prior cases in Ohio, it's one of the predominant reasons where the customer prevails when taking legal action. I know you are in Wisconsin so I don't know how your state handles similar matters, but you might want to contact your Attorney General's office. Sometimes they can investigate and assist people with matters such as yours. I hope you get some resolution on this, especially when you confronted him he admitted that he just "assumed" it was right.....

By the way...I own a 97 Ford Taurus...my tranny was acting the way you described, within a couple of months it went totally out. I used to sell Fords to companies in a dealership fleet department. Don't let the mileage fool you or them....Many people might tell you the symptoms you noticed would be typical of the 156K mileage, but the Taurus had problems in the mid-late 90s for transmission failure from around 60K miles at times.

Good luck to you!