Vehicle inspections

[Hole9yard]

What is the name of your state? My state is Rhode Island. My son bought a used vehicle that was inspected about 1 mouth from he bought unfortunately he didn’t check it out for himself. Long story short he took it to a shop to look at an oil leak and found out the chassis is all riot and the engine is ready to hit the ground. Of course the the person who sold him the vehicle is saying nothin. But sense the inspection station who inspected the car are they responsibl? Our DPW says they will go after the station who inspected the car but said nothing about if they are responsible for my son to get the sale of the vehicle repaid. So asking are they responsible?

 

[Zigner]

Your son should have gotten his own inspection prior to purchasing the car.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Your son should have gotten his own inspection prior to purchasing the car.

Did the seller give your son that report? If so, your son represented that the inspection report was accurate. If the damages were as readily apparent as you describe, the seller and/or the inspection might indeed be liable. A private seller doesn't have to represent anything about the car he or she is selling, but if the seller makes factual statements are are untrue, that's fraud. You son might want to check with the state, county, or city agency that handles fraud matters. A contact by a law enforcement agency might make the seller a little more likely to agree to some settlement rather than face possible fraud charges. Your son could also try suing the inspection station and owner in small claims court. It doesn't cost a lot and he might win some of his money back.

Your son should have gotten his own inspection prior to purchasing the car.

Yes, he should have. That does not automatically mean that he cannot win a lawsuit against the inspection station and/or the seller for the apparent fraud. His reliance on their apparent fraudulent claims should not be an out for them. If the seller provided no representations about the car then the seller would be in the clear. But if, as it sounds, the seller was misrepresenting the condition with a bogus or fraudulent inspection report, the seller may be liable for that misrepresentation.

 

[Zigner]

I don't disagree with you, @Taxing Matters. My concern is that the car may, in fact, have legitimately passed inspection. I believe the OP may be exaggerating the condition of the car (perhaps unknowingly).

 

[Taxing Matters]

I don't disagree with you, @Taxing Matters. My concern is that the car may, in fact, have legitimately passed inspection. I believe the OP may be exaggerating the condition of the car (perhaps unknowingly).

Right, which is why I started out by saying if the damage to the car was as apparent as the OP describes there may be something there to pursue. If the inspection report was accurate and the damage not readily apparent to the seller then there may be no misrepresentation and the loss for this falls on the OP's son for not having his own inspection done before the sale. You may be right that the OP has exaggerated how bad it really was. I have no idea either way.

 

[zddoodah]

My son bought a used vehicle that was inspected about 1 month prior to the date on which he bought it.

I've edited that quote to say what I think you meant to say. Am I correct? If so, for what purpose was the vehicle inspected?

Also, I assume that the seller gave no warranty when the vehicle was sold. Correct?

But sense the inspection station who inspected the car are they responsibl?

I have a hard time imagining any circumstance under which the person/entity who conducted the inspection could possibly have liability to your son.

Our DPW says they will go after the station who inspected the car

DPW? Department of Public Works? Database Publishing Wizard?

What does "go after" mean in this context?

Did the seller give your son that report? If so, your son represented that the inspection report was accurate.

I think there's a typo here. The seller giving the inspection report to the OP's son (the buyer) would not constitute any sort of representation by the buyer. I assume you meant to say "the buyer represented," but I disagree that the seller giving the buyer the inspection report constitutes a representation by the seller that the report was accurate. For all we know, the buyer asked about the car's condition and the seller said something like, "It seems fine to me. I'm not really a car guy, but I got this inspection done a month ago, so I guess it's fine."

His reliance on their apparent fraudulent claims should not be an out for them.

Well...even if there was a misrepresentation of a material fact, the plaintiff still has to provide intent or negligence AND that reliance on the misrepresentation was reasonable. The extent to which the damage was apparent might cut in the buyer's favor as it relates to a misrepresentation, but it also cuts against any reliance being reasonable.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? My state is Rhode Island. My son bought a used vehicle that was inspected about 1 mouth from he bought unfortunately he didn’t check it out for himself. Long story short he took it to a shop to look at an oil leak and found out the chassis is all riot and the engine is ready to hit the ground. Of course the the person who sold him the vehicle is saying nothin. But sense the inspection station who inspected the car are they responsibl? Our DPW says they will go after the station who inspected the car but said nothing about if they are responsible for my son to get the sale of the vehicle repaid. So asking are they responsible?

How long after your son bought the car did he take it to a mechanic for the oil leak?

I see a possible problem with the passage of time between the original inspection and the sale of the vehicle to your son and your son’s trip to the mechanic for an oil leak.

How old is the vehicle?

 

[Hole9yard]

How long after your son bought the car did he take it to a mechanic for the oil leak?

I see a possible problem with the passage of time between the original inspection and the sale of the vehicle to your son and your son’s trip to the mechanic for an oil leak.

How old is the vehicle?

Ok I’ll try to answer all questions, he had the car about 7 days tell he brought to a mechani. The inspection was a state safety inspections which is required every 2 years by official state representation station. The chaise is rotten thur. The inspection is about 45 days old. Now I personally didn’t see this the mechanic told my son and refuse to do any work on the vehicle. Now the state is sending someone from the state to look at this and then they said if all this is true about the chaise they will visit the inspector and what happens after that I don’t know. The car is a 2002, and something really strange on the bill of sale it did say no rust. Okay if you saw the car and not looking very hard yes it had rust, but son is part of the generation that if he wants it get it now then think about it. So I totally agree he should had someone there to guild him

 

[quincy]

Ok I’ll try to answer all questions, he had the car about 7 days tell he brought to a mechani. The inspection was a state safety inspections which is required every 2 years by official state representation station. The chaise is rotten thur. The inspection is about 45 days old. Now I personally didn’t see this the mechanic told my son and refuse to do any work on the vehicle. Now the state is sending someone from the state to look at this and then they said if all this is true about the chaise they will visit the inspector and what happens after that I don’t know. The car is a 2002, and something really strange on the bill of sale it did say no rust. Okay if you saw the car and not looking very hard yes it had rust, but son is part of the generation that if he wants it get it now then think about it. So I totally agree he should had someone there to guild him

Thank you for answering my questions, Hole9yard.

I do think that your son should have had the car independently inspected prior to purchase, especially since the car was 21 years old. Some rust is almost to be expected on a car that age but if your son had looked at the underbelly he might have discovered its extent.

I don’t hold out a too much hope for your son getting any money back from the private seller, unless there is clear evidence that the seller lied or didn’t disclose damage to the vehicle that occurred after the state inspection. It will be interesting to see what the state says about the state inspection.

Your son potentially could have the chassis repaired, by the way - but that can get costly.

 

[Taxing Matters]

I think there's a typo here. The seller giving the inspection report to the OP's son (the buyer) would not constitute any sort of representation by the
buyer. I assume you meant to say "the buyer represented," but I disagree that the seller giving the buyer the inspection report constitutes a representation by the seller that the report was accurate.

You are correct, there was a typo there. I did indeed mean the seller not the buyer.

Well...even if there was a misrepresentation of a material fact, the plaintiff still has to provide intent or negligence AND that reliance on the misrepresentation was reasonable. The extent to which the damage was apparent might cut in the buyer's favor as it relates to a misrepresentation, but it also cuts against any reliance being reasonable.

If the damage about which the OP complains would have easily been seen by the son by a casual inspection (e.g. a walk around the, popping the hood to look the engine, and taking a look at the underside of the car) then of course he cannot rely on the inspection report if it says something to the contrary. He lacks the reasonable reliance on the report that would be needed to support a claim.

For @Hole9yard — we lack the kind of details to really form an opinion if your son really has something to pursue out of this. But he might. If the damage to the car is extensive and thus very expensive to repair, I think that having a discussion with a local consumer rights lawyer may be useful. And, as I noted before, your son may always make the complaint to the state/local agency that handles fraud and consumer affairs and see what their take on it is.

Given the absurd prices that some used cars sell for right now, it's foolish not to get an independent inspection of the car before buying. Even an honest seller may not know the troubles lurking inside the car he is selling. So relying on some seller statement along the lines of "well, I haven't had any problems with it" has the risk that the car might be have problems the seller didn't know about. If nothing else, this is a learning experience for your son. I suspect he won't make that mistake of not getting a vehicle inspected before buying again.

 

[cbg]

From whom did your son buy the car? In RI it makes a difference what I would recommend.

Did he buy it from a dealer or from the previous owner? In state or out?

 

[Hole9yard]

From whom did your son buy the car? In RI it makes a difference what I would recommend.

Did he buy it from a dealer or from the previous owner? In state or out?

He bought it from private seller , so I don’t think the seller would be held to anything he could always say I didn’t know. Yes I agree my son should’ve check out the car or ask for someone to go look at the car with him, just to let you know I’m being very calm about my son negligence on this and yes if he gets nothing back he just paid for this learning experience

 

[cbg]

I suspect that the private seller knew very well what the problem is but you're right - I don't think you'll get any joy there. Since he didn't buy it from a licensed dealer his best port of call is the inspection station. I am not guaranteeing that they can or will be held responsible. I'm not sure if the state inspection covers the sort of thing you're talking about.

 

[Bali Hai Again]

By OP’s account the son would have bought the car even after being told it was a piece of junk by a mechanic. Never buy a 21 year old car especially if it’s been driven on salted roads in the Northeast. Take a piece of ferrous metal and put it in salt brine for a year and watch the result. You’ll never get ”all” of the salt washed out of the undercarriage of the vehicle. Time to look for another car for sonny to drive around with his Ray-Bans on a cloudy day, music blasting, wearing the tires out and going nowhere.

 

[quincy]

... Given the absurd prices that some used cars sell for right now ...

The cost of used cars right now is a real problem, especially for first time car buyers. Before the pandemic, there was a good selection of decent newer-used cars to be found under $5000, for sale by both private sellers and by used-car dealerships. Now it is difficult to find any vehicle under 10 years old for $5000 that does not have end-of-life mileage and/or major damage. Purchasing one is a real crap shoot. Inspection of a vehicle is vital prior to purchase.