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HELP! Car died first day I bought it

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kmcerio

Junior Member
:) I live in N.Y.Stateand purchased a care for my daughter that is in my name from a small dealer in our town. The car has over 100,00 miles and the day she got the car the throttle stuck and she had to put it in nutral to get it to slow down. The engine was revving very fast and she had my two grandkids in the car with her. She took it back to the owner of the car lot and he said she blew up the motor by driving it too fast. It was smoking and not running right. Anyways he kept it for a day or two and gave it back to her. It sat at a friends up the road from the dealer for a week or so and still was not right so she took it back. This was Sept. of this yr. and he has had it ever since. She has contacted him several times and he would never get back to her. I called him last week and told him I wanted the money back and he was very rude. I asked him if he has heard of The Fair Trades Law or lemon Law and he laughed at me and I told him I would contact the Attorney Generals Office and he offered me the #. He threatened to have the car towed to my house and I told him I didn,t want the car just my money. I did contact the Attorney General and he suggested I call 1-800-call dmv as this guy also had inspected this car and it should have been road wearthy and I would think the throttle sticking could be very dangerous. He said he could stand a chance of loosing his license for inspecting a car that was dangerous. Sorry this is so long but I am very upset that this guy took advantage of us even though its just $500.00 to me its alot of money as I am disabled and live on a fixed income .Thank you for listening and would appreciate any advise I can get.
 


S

seniorjudge

Guest
Lemon laws generally cover only new cars.

Maybe someone else on this forum can give you other advice about what to do in this situation.

This dealer sounds shady to me.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
No lemon law on used cars.

Further, the expense of pursuing a fraudulent inspection case is well out of proportion to the value of the car, and you are probably best served by getting the car fixed bya reputable mechanic and learning that next time, you need to have the car checked out by a reliable mechanic first so you don't run into these issues.

Incidentally, a sticking throttle is a relatively cheap thing to fix. Shouldn't cost more than an hour's labor.
 

wnagel

Member
I would suggest that you contact the mechanic who did the independent inspection to your car before you bought it! What, you did not do an inspection?

I am a vehicle inspector for the State of Missouri, certified by the Missouri Highway Patrol. I don't know about New York specific, but most vehicle inspection are very similar. This is not a complete vehicle check, but more a safety check. The throttle is not part of the safety check here in Missouri and I have not ever heard it being in any state inspection. Obviously, if I had seen it, I would report it to be fixed, but it would not invalidate an inspection.

As for what you should do now? Try and negotiate with the dealer knowing that he does not have to offer any assistance at all. You might have pissed him off so bad that he might not want to help. Assistance with perhaps you would pay 1/2 of the repair bill? Or perhaps he can have his mechanic repair the car as a lower cost? Perhaps even letting you use his wholesale parts account to allow you to get the parts at wholesale. This would not even cost him anything.

From the way you explained the situation, it does not appear he is obligated to give you a refund or take the car back. Sorry, always have a mechanic inspect the car and then always get a carFax.
 

sugacubez

Junior Member
NYC

No lemon laws for used cars?

The "breakdown buggy" i bought AKA Dodge Intrepid was used & it
supposedly had lemon law coverge. But they are allowed to cover
stuff of their choice, as this dealership did. I bought this car at
Hamilton Auto Sales in brooklyn, ny. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THEM.
I had to take that car to the shop the very first day i got it. First
all the coolant leaked out -on the way home no less. Then there
was some warped thing on one of the front tires, that causes the
wheels to constantly stay out of alignment. Then the cylinders
kept going out & they had to be flushed twice. Then we needed
a new radiator. Then on the highway it went dead because the
electronics all died along with a bunch of other stuff. All in all,
i've paid well over $1500 in repairs.

The car was supposed to be $2700, they tacked on $1100 of
unexplained fees AFTER i left my deposit. The fees were supposed
to cover all dmv fees, but then they tried to charge me $125 for
license plates! To date, i've paid them $2300 PLUS the $1500 in
repairs.Stay away from them, they're also known as BQE Auctions.

This link is about used car lemon laws:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/consumer/cars/usedcarlemon.html
 
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