Used car not as described in listing

[nopeda]

What is the name of your state? Maine

Hello law people. In a post at:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/—(link removed)
a used car dealer posted to Facebook Marketplace :

"2010 Subaru Forester AWD 4 CYL Autiomatic POwer windows and Locks Very Nice Car absolutely No Rust and Runs Like New 180K and would never Know It... New Inspection Sticker 100% Warranty 30 Day PLate 6900.00 Gastkets all done Timimg was done and water pump all with in a few weeks. Call anytime"

I bought the vehicle because of the work which supposedly had been done but it turned out it had not been done. I had to pay to have it done because a mechanic and a state inspector both said the head gaskets are in bad shape and need to be replaced before it does real damage to the engine. It cost $1900 to get done what the Marketplace listing claimed had already been done. The post has been removed. The quote above was copied directly from it. Is it possible to prove that it was ever on Facebook Marketplace by some sort of archive or seller history or anything?

Advice someone provided was to file a complaint with my local small claims court for: Breach of Contract - Consumer Fraud - False Advertising and that it's only one page and I don't have to be a lawyer to do it. Also when it goes to court have the mechanic who did the job testify that the work had not been done. Hopefully he would do that because he said the head gaskets, timing belt and water pump were all the originals still on the motor never been changed.

Does all that sound right? The person who drove me to get the vehicle remembers me discussing with the dealer about the head gaskets, timing belt and water pump having been changed and the dealer saying they had all been done recently. The person said he will go to court and testify to it. Should that be enough?

Thank you for any advice about this!!

 

[zddoodah]

Just FYI, most of the same people who responded to you at the other site where you posted this also post here.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Maine

Hello law people. In a post at:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/(linkremoved)

a used car dealer posted to Facebook Marketplace :

"2010 Subaru Forester AWD 4 CYL Autiomatic POwer windows and Locks Very Nice Car absolutely No Rust and Runs Like New 180K and would never Know It... New Inspection Sticker 100% Warranty 30 Day PLate 6900.00 Gastkets all done Timimg was done and water pump all with in a few weeks. Call anytime"

I bought the vehicle because of the work which supposedly had been done but it turned out it had not been done. I had to pay to have it done because a mechanic and a state inspector both said the head gaskets are in bad shape and need to be replaced before it does real damage to the engine. It cost $1900 to get done what the Marketplace listing claimed had already been done. The post has been removed. The quote above was copied directly from it. Is it possible to prove that it was ever on Facebook Marketplace by some sort of archive or seller history or anything?

Advice someone provided was to file a complaint with my local small claims court for: Breach of Contract - Consumer Fraud - False Advertising and that it's only one page and I don't have to be a lawyer to do it. Also when it goes to court have the mechanic who did the job testify that the work had not been done. Hopefully he would do that because he said the head gaskets, timing belt and water pump were all the originals still on the motor never been changed.

Does all that sound right? The person who drove me to get the vehicle remembers me discussing with the dealer about the head gaskets, timing belt and water pump having been changed and the dealer saying they had all been done recently. The person said he will go to court and testify to it. Should that be enough?

Thank you for any advice about this!!

David

Was your car purchase made through a car dealership or did you buy the car from a private individual who, perhaps, buys old cars, fixes them up and then resells them?

Why didn’t you have the car independently inspected by your own trusted mechanic prior to purchase?

What, if anything, did you get in writing about the terms and conditions of sale? Do you have a written warranty?

You can sue - anyone can sue - but winning a lawsuit on a claim of false advertising, when you don’t actually have a copy of the advertisement, might not be easy.

 

[nopeda]

Was your car purchase made through a car dealership or did you buy the car from a private individual who, perhaps, buys old cars, fixes them up and then resells them?

Why didn’t you have the car independently inspected by your own trusted mechanic prior to purchase?

What, if anything, did you get in writing about the terms and conditions of sale? Do you have a written warranty?

You can sue - anyone can sue - but winning a lawsuit on a claim of false advertising, when you don’t actually have a copy of the advertisement, might not be easy.

I got it from a dealership. I didn't take it to have it inspected because the closest place I trusted was an hour away and I didn't think anything about having it inspected not being familiar with dealing with lying cheating people of such an extreme degree. For the price he charged for a vehicle that old with that many miles it seemed reasonable to believe the work had been done. When I pick up what I think is a gallon of milk from a 'dealer' I don't open it and sample it before paying for it, expecting there are laws in place to protect people from such horrendously dishonest misrepresentation of what they claim to be selling. The same is true of canned goods, appliances like TV's, etc... I had no idea that something as significant to a person's quality of life as a vehicle is some sort of exception and the seller can lie about it any way he wants to and it's apparently okay...no law against it. So at this point in my learnings it seems very clear why dishonest lying thieves like that business and aren't afraid to lie so blatantly.

There was no warranty that he didn't lie about the condition of the vehicle. Is there some way that there could be? So far in our discussions people seem to want to change the subject to some sort of warranty and inspection issues, but the issue here is that he lied in his listing and there is no warranty expiration date on that. If he gets away with this horrible dishonest lying fraud, which I'm afraid he probably will, he will still be guilty of it from now until the end of time and there is no sort of warranty that ever existed about it or ever could expire.

The place that did the repairs confirmed that the original head gaskets, timing belt and water pump were still in the vehicle and needed to be replaced. They wrote that on the receipt, and I might be able to get the mechanic to go testify if he really needs to be there. Hopefully the notes about it on the receipt will be enough though. The quotes I posted were copied directly from his listing though there's no way to prove it and surely he will lie about it under oath(?) when it goes to court. So if it comes down to that and the judge ends up believing he did in fact lie so horribly blatantly in his listing, which he did do, might he also get contempt of court or something for lying about it under oath? I've only recently thought of that but knowing nothing about all this consider it could possibly be more serious and carry a higher penalty than his original crime of lying in the Marketplace listing. But even if it is possible to find an archive of the listing and take a screen shot of it, couldn't he still just lie about it and say I doctored it up somehow? But again, I'm hoping a strong argument on my side would be that there would be no reason for someone to pay that much for a vehicle that old with that many miles on it if they had not been assured and believed such significant and expensive repairs had already been made. Also the person that drove me to get the vehicle remembers the seller insisting the repairs he claimed to have been made in his listing had been made, when I asked him about it at the time of purchase.

 

[quincy]

Used cars are generally sold “as is” and “buyer beware,” unless there is something in writing that states differently. You say that there is something in writing - an advertisement - that goes beyond the common (and generally legal) practice of using puffery in an ad, into false, deceptive, and/or misleading claims about the vehicle you purchased.

You are now looking to recover the $1900 you spent to fix what the advertisement said was already fixed, correct?

Because you don’t have the advertisement to show in court, it could very well wind up being a lawsuit where the best story teller wins.

Here is a link to Maine’s “Consumer Rights When You Buy a Used Vehicle:” https://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/attach.php?id=27927&an=1
Check out section 9.10 Legal Remedies.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I didn't think anything about having it inspected not being familiar

Any used car needs to be inspected by a 3rd party before purchase—especially a 13-year-old one with 180K miles.

 

[nopeda]

Used cars are generally sold “as is” and “buyer beware,” unless there is something in writing that states differently. You say that there is something in writing - an advertisement - that goes beyond the common (and generally legal) practice of using puffery in an ad, into false, deceptive, and/or misleading claims about the vehicle you purchased.

You are now looking to recover the $1900 you spent to fix what the advertisement said was already fixed, correct?

Because you don’t have the advertisement to show in court, it could very well wind up being a lawsuit where the best story teller wins.

Here is a link to Maine’s “Consumer Rights When You Buy a Used Vehicle:” https://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/attach.php?id=27927&an=1
Check out section 9.10 Legal Remedies.

What he wrote was definitely false and misleading. What I'm going for is the cost of getting fixed what the advertisement said was already fixed that is correct. And if I could get more that would be great too. Thank you for the consumer rights document! I believe 9.10 is my exact situation, and he did both written and verbal since at the time of purchase he verbally backed up what he had written.

 

[quincy]

What he wrote was definitely false and misleading. What I'm going for is the cost of getting fixed what the advertisement said was already fixed that is correct. And if I could get more that would be great too. Thank you for the consumer rights document! I believe 9.10 is my exact situation, and he did both written and verbal since at the time of purchase he verbally backed up what he had written.

If you decide to sue, I wish you luck.

 

[Litigator22]

defendant

What he wrote was definitely false and misleading. What I'm going for is the cost of getting fixed what the advertisement said was already fixed that is correct. And if I could get more that would be great too. Thank you for the consumer rights document! I believe 9.10 is my exact situation, and he did both written and verbal since at the time of purchase he verbally backed up what he had written.

You lay this lame yarn on a judge - "it must be true otherwise why would I pay so much" - you are going to walk out of the courtroom not only empty handed, but with egg all over you!

What's wrong with it you ask? I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It doesn't make sense!

No normal thinking person having paid a premium price for a well-used automobile (180K odometer reading) would immediately dump another two grand in it to replace the head gaskets, timing belt and water pump!

NOT UNLESS there is an apparent and critical need to do so. And most CERTAINLY NOT before bringing it to the attention of the seller. And this whether or not the supposed defects were under some form of seller's warranty.

Whether you like it or not and whether or not the replaced parts were indeed defective (as if the people replacing them would admit that the work was unnecessary) and whether or not there existed any warranty, your failure to first allow the seller an opportunity to make any needed repairs permanently scuttles your impending lawsuit!