• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Purchased a used car, now its going to cost me 4,000$+ to fix it.

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Bwolfe

Junior Member
Hello, My state is California

I purchased a 2001 BMW M3 just about a month ago.
One week into driving the car, I noticed the coolant light appearing on my dash, so I quickly reacted and checked my coolant tank.
My coolant was almost half empty so I thought that I may have a leak. Well 2 weeks into owning the car I was unable to find any symptoms of a leak.
So I contacted the dealership and they asked that I give them the car to check through their mechanic. Their mechanic stated that there were no issues and they handed the car back to me.
Obviously there is an issue because the coolant tank is half empty every day I drive it.
the third week I finally loose my cool because I discover it is a blown head gasket.

SO by this point I turn to the Third party warranty that I purchased through them. This is a 100,000 mile power-train warranty and they stated to me that I would not be eligible for a claim to them until 45 days after purchasing this.
This makes sense to protect the warranty company from fraud. But come to find out they also have a 1,000 mile waiting period as well. This was never told to me until I was given my warranty documents.

So the dealership tells me to drive my car with the blown head gasket for another 300 miles to meet the warranty quota and bring it to them... Driving 300 miles on a blown head gasket would not only void the warranty, but is suicide for my vehicle and would cause much more damage to it than what it already faces.

So this was a massive red flag that the dealership would say this to me. Now I brought the car to them a week ago and gave them hell stating that this is their problem and they need to fix this and he said he would take it to a different mechanic... this different mechanic says there is no problem again.... and they have had my car for 9 days now

My greatest fear here is that he will attempt to drive the car 300 miles to meet the warranty quota. Which would as i stated earlier, hurt the vehicle beyond what it is now.

What can I do? They have lied about the warranty, wont fix the issue, and have held my car for 9 days an I was given no loaner or anything to compensate my time without a vehicle.
I am US Navy and so I do have access to legal help but it is a long ways out so I do hope you guys can help me out here

Thank you for all of your help guys. I really hope I can get this car fixed and keep it, I love this car.
 


justalayman

Senior Member
The only two things I can think of are;

an intentional misrepresentation of the vehicle. If they knew knew of the head gasket issue (given the issue becoming known nearly immmediately it’s likely it was present when you bought it) and made false representations you may have an action available to you.


And, given its passing quite a bit of anti-freeze through the engine I would wonder if it wouldn’t be an issue with a SMOG cert or that the catalytic converter hasn’t been damaged in some way due to the coolant passing through to the converter.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
So California's lemon laws cant help me here at all?
Your vehicle is outside of any new car warranty and is not covered by a warranty offered by the dealer. Your "warranty" is actually a service program offered by a third party (as you acknowledge.) I'm sorry, but there is no coverage under the lemon law. You may (and should), of course, contact an attorney that specializes in California Lemon Law to discuss the specifics of your case.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The only two things I can think of are;

an intentional misrepresentation of the vehicle. If they knew knew of the head gasket issue (given the issue becoming known nearly immmediately it’s likely it was present when you bought it) and made false representations you may have an action available to you.


And, given its passing quite a bit of anti-freeze through the engine I would wonder if it wouldn’t be an issue with a SMOG cert or that the catalytic converter hasn’t been damaged in some way due to the coolant passing through to the converter.
There is no way to prove the dealership was aware of this problem. It didn't even present itself to the OP until after he had driven it for a week.
 

Bwolfe

Junior Member
awesome, well thank you guys so much for the help. I will try to get a hold of someone to help me with the specifics of California laws on this.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
There is no way to prove the dealership was aware of this problem. It didn't even present itself to the OP until after he had driven it for a week.
It’s highly unlikely it could be proven the dealer was aware but it’s an avenue the op can explore. Dealers usually and intentionally don’t learn much about the cars they sell so they can claim ignorance of a problem. Sometimes they do take actions with the car that shows they did or should have known there was a problem.

As to not presenting for a week;

He said it took a week for the fluid level to drop far enough to trip the low coolant sensor. For a head gasket that’s not uncommon for it to act this way, sometimes for a considerable length of time. Additionally if there was some short lived additive added to the coolant to attempt to provide a temporary “fix” it could act precisely as the op described.

While difficult or not impossible to prove, it is something op can investigate.

In fact, since many additives used to afford a temporary repair are evident in the radiator op may take the car to an uninvolved garage to investigate the possibility of such being present.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The OP likely put several hundred miles on the car...the dealer would have put a dozen or two on it. I agree that it can't hurt to have the coolant system checked for evidence of an additive, except I will say that it's possible that the guy/gal who transferred it to the dealer is just have likely to have done so. Heck, if the dealer got the car at auction (very likely), it's still just as possible. In essence, even the presence of an additive isn't proof that the dealer knew of the problem.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
The OP likely put several hundred miles on the car...the dealer would have put a dozen or two on it. I agree that it can't hurt to have the coolant system checked for evidence of an additive, except I will say that it's possible that the guy/gal who transferred it to the dealer is just have likely to have done so. Heck, if the dealer got the car at auction (very likely), it's still just as possible. In essence, even the presence of an additive isn't proof that the dealer knew of the problem.
Yep, definately an uphill battle. Given the op’s position I think anything will be an uphill battle though. Better than a brick wall though.
 

xylene

Senior Member
not legal advice - try a chemical fix. Drain and flush the coolant system, filling it only with water so so coolant remains. Drain it again, fill it with distileed water and a top quality system seal ant like K Seal or BlueDevil. (I like K Seal, it worked on multiple older cars for me)

Run the car for a few hours at idle. Then drive it for ~100 miles, bit not driving hard. Do that drive again next day. Monitor thagt coolant level..

Drain the water and put top quality coolant mix back in and another chem seal. Idle for 2 or 3 hours, then drive. At this point it eiter worked or it didn't.

If it didn't, flush it and do conventional head repair. Nothing lost.

(BTW you want to make sure it is above freezing outside or in a garage heated above freezing when coolant is absent.. duh, but important)
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
Yep, definately an uphill battle. Given the op’s position I think anything will be an uphill battle though. Better than a brick wall though.
Even if the dealer knew there was a problem, unless the dealer also knowingly made a misrepresentation about the vehicle (e.g. “we checked the engine ourselves and everything checked out fine” when, in fact, they knew the engine wasn’t good) there is no legal claim against the dealer for it. Used cars are sold as is except to the extent a warranty is offered, and then the only recourse for problems is whatever the warranty covers. A used car buyer should always have a car he or she is considering buying checked out by an independent mechanic he or she trusts before agreeing to buy the car, even when buying from a used car dealer.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Even if the dealer knew there was a problem, unless the dealer also knowingly made a misrepresentation about the vehicle (e.g. “we checked the engine ourselves and everything checked out fine” when, in fact, they knew the engine wasn’t good) there is no legal claim against the dealer for it. Used
And you missed that when I said it in my post? You felt a need to point out something like I didn’t say it when I did?

I’ll post it again so you can catch it this time;

an intentional misrepresentation of the vehicle. If they knew knew of the head gasket issue (given the issue becoming known nearly immmediately it’s likely it was present when you bought it) and made false representations you may have an action available to you.
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
And you missed that when I said it in my post? You felt a need to point out something like I didn’t say it when I did?

I’ll post it again so you can catch it this time;
No need to get defensive, I was providing a more detailed explanation for the benefit of the OP, not criticizing your post.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top