I'm being sued! Should I let it go to court?

Question

I sold a car to this girl. It was sold to her "as is" with no warranty. The car had over 190,000 miles on it and a salvaged title. She was aware of all this and even test drove the car and was happy with it before she purchased it. Not to mention, she only spent $350 on it. She called me a few hours later wanting her money back saying it didn't shift, and I didn't tell her everything that was wrong with it. I drove the car every day to work and school and back and I had never had this problem. I offered to look at it and she refused to let and just wanted her money back. I said I can't take a car back that doesn't run after I sold it running. She is now suing me $350 for the car and $50 for her inconvenience.... What should I do? How is my side looking?

I have a witness, an old coworker, that heard her state she was aware of the car being "as is"

Sorry... I meant to put prior salvage

Answer 1

I would say she doesn't have much of a case. You sold it as is , she test drove it, and you sold it for a low price for the milege on it. The fact you offered to take a look at it may indicate your willingness to see if you could fix it. The fact she refused to let you do so is a plus for you. The law states Buyer Be Ware I'm not sure of the latin phrase but this to protects you . So , yes go to court, take any and all paperwork from the sell with you, and you should be ok.

Answer 2

Lemon laws only apply on vehicles with under 100,000 miles on them so that will not be an issue.

Having it only a few hours and having a problem could be an issue...it isn't like she was driving it for days, weeks or months and then came back indicating there was a problem and wanted you to fix it, it was pretty much immediate.

She didn't want to give you the opportunity to look at the car and possibly correct it, so that is a point in your favor.

However, the big problem on this is the salvaged title. If your insurance company determined that your vehicle was a "total loss" or the word "Salvage" has been stamped on the title, it is illegal to operate this vehicle upon any road, unless it has been rebuilt, passed Salvage inspection and may need to be re-titled.

The insurance company is to notify the DMV when they declare a vehicle "salvaged", but sometimes things slip through the cracks and that is why you have been able to get it registered with the DMV when you really should not have been able to.

Just indicating it is "AS IS" is not a good enough of a catch-all to sell her a car that is not legal to drive and she can't get plates for.

Answer 3

I feel the corporation was once doing what many firms around the U.S. are doing. I'm stunned, frankly, that someone is doing whatever approximately it. I cannot assume that the illegals might sue, so I'd be excited by understanding who driven the lawsuit. The simplest factor of view I have got to reward is that once you are employed via a temp-provider, you're paid a reduce salary till the corporation makes a decision to take you on as a whole time worker, in the event that they do. So no longer simplest might they escape with reduce wages, in addition they might deny advantages with ease through no longer "hiring".

Answer 4

You need to make a bill of sale stating the vehicle is sold as is, or your rights are not protected.
If she test-drove the car with you, and it shifted okay then you might be all right. Let her sue, the worst thing that can happen is that you get your wages garnished until you pay off the judgement, and that's no big deal.

Answer 5

This same thing actually happened to me. When I was in the military, a co-worker of mine had just gotten married, needed a car, and I happened to have two...so I let him borrow my older car free of charge. Nice of me, right? They drove the car for about a month, then offered to buy it. Ok, I said, fine.

Then, right after they bought it, the wife decided she didn't like it, and tried to go to court over it (I had lawyers calling me).

I went to see a military lawyer, and he basically laughed and said these kind of purchases are "as is", there are no guarantees, buyer beware, etc.

It never went anywhere...I would be surprised if this even goes to court. If it does, it would be small claims. Then you would have to go defend yourself, bring your witness, and any other character witnesses that knew the car and you.

Bottom line, they don't have a case.

Answer 6

Do you have any kind of contract or witnesses that heard you explain the car was "as is" If you do, definitely bring it/them to court. The outlook for you looks good. The only kind of problem I see is her saying she was unaware the car was not in good condition. But a salvaged title and the amount of mileage should of tipped her off. I really believe they will favor you.

Answer 7

You have a pretty good case. Just tell her that you can look at it and see what is wrong. Used cars are almost always sold as is, so even if you don't have a deed of sale, it shouldn't be hard to convince the judge that there was no warranty. (Since you aren't a car merchant, there is no implied warranty). She's probably just trying to scare you. Let her go to court if she wants.

Answer 8

If you're being sued....you HAVE to go to court. Just be sure to be prepared. There are "Lemon Laws" now, and if she can prove that there was a pre-existing mechanical problem, you stand to be in for a fight.
However, any judge is going to see that it is indeed..."a $350.00 CAR!"
These cases are always a "He Said-She-Said" deal, and it's impossible to even guess what the outcome may be.
It's going to be up to the judge's descretion as to whom he/she thinks is most truthful, and if the girl is full of it, most judges can sniff it out.
It's what they do! Usually.
Good luck.

Nad

Answer 9

I don't think there's a whole lot she can do about it unless she's under 18. If she threatens to take you to court, it's basically just her way of trying to waste everyone's time. If you have a copy of the ad you placed clearly stating "as is" it should strengthen your case.

Answer 10

YOU HAVE ANY PROOF YOU SOLD IT TO HER AS IS? A WITNESS? A WRITTEN AGREEMENT? YOUR CASE PROBABLY WILL BE DISMISSED. BRING SOME CHARACTER WITNESSES AND GO OVER YOUR STATEMENT. YOU GOT A 70 PERCENT CHANCE OF WINNING. COURT IS MANDATORY. BUT TALK TO A LAWYER JUST IN CASE.