What could we do to get our money back? Help please.?

Question

We purchased a used car from a private owner 1.5 months ago. Right after purchasing the car we found the service engine soon light was on, we thought it was just a reminder of routine maintenance and did not pay special attention to it. As we drove the car more we found the gas mileage was awful and sometimes there was problems with starting the engine. So we took the car to auto repair and they detected serious engine problems and said the car was losing power awfully. The total repair would cost round 2000 bucks. They said the previous owner must have known the serious defect and intentionally cheated on us when selling the car by temporarily cutting off the service engine light. Is there any way we can get some of money back? We called the previous owner like crazy but she never answered the phone or got back to our messages. What could we do? Get a lawyer, file small court claims or something else? What’s the chance for us to get some money back? Thanks!

Answer 1

If you purchased the car from a private owner, there is no "warranty" unless you signed some sort of contract that specified that. You will almost certainly be unable to collect any money from her, as it is the responsibility of the buyer to know what they are buying (by taking it to your mechanic, etc).

You can sue her if you want to, but I doubt you will win.

Answer 2

You pretty much got your answer to your question.. no, you really can't do anything because you purchased this vehicle as is.

I want to address the issue on the check engine light because it appears some people have misinformed opinions on that. The only wires you could possibly cut to turn off the check engine light are the wires to the computer box, which the vehicle needs to run. There are ways to get around selling a car with a check engine light on. All someone has to do in order to erase that check engine light temporarily is to unplug the battery or pull the main power fuse in the electrical box. It's as simple as that. Often times it could take days or weeks for it to come back on because once the battery is plugged back in, the cars computer needs to reset itself and "relearn" everything, so the issue that may have been the cause of the light may not be detected again for some time.

This is why it's always essential to take ANY used vehicle.. wether bought at a dealership or from a private owner to your OWN trusted mechanic before purchasing it. Any decent mechanic will have a plug and play machine that will hook up to the vehicles computer and tell you if there are any "codes" that have been recently erased without being fixed or any codes pending that the computer hasn't decided are bad enough to turn the light on yet.

The kick in the pants? It takes less than a minute to hook up the machine, turn it on and get a code.

Answer 3

Unless the seller gave or sold you a warranty when you bought the car, your bought it "as-is." This means that the seller is not liable for any defects existing in this car. The seller is under no obligation to talk to you about the engine problems either. Your seller was only obligated to disclose to you major defects, like major accident damage, or salvage or junk title. It was your duty to discover any mechanical defects existing in the car prior to purchase--this is why it's a good idea to hire a mechanic to inspect a used car before you buy it--one would have discovered the engine issue. As for the seller turning off the light to defraud you into selling the car, unless the repair shop can show you cut wires or something like that, you have no proof. It could have been that, despite the problems, the light just didn't come on earlier, or the light comes on intermittently rather than staying on constantly. And you did yourself no favors continuing to drive the car with the light on. By your own admission, you paid no attention to the light for a while, thinking it was for routine maintenance (and you didn't even get the maintenance done. Interesting.)
All in all, you have no claim against the seller. What they did wasn't nice, but you had to protect yourself too and you didn't. In the future, have a mechanic check out any used car before you buy it. If the seller won't let you do that, then you know you don't want to buy the car.

Answer 4

You will encounter several significant hurdles to overcome if you attempt to file a legal claim against the seller based upon your mechanic's analysis.

First, the time lapse between your purchase and the mechanic's analysis is significant;
Second, you will have to prove that the damaged engine was the result of a prior defect rather than an attribute to you driving the car while the check engine light was illuminated instead of having the car serviced right away;
Third, you must have clear evidence that the seller disconnected the check engine light in order to hide a defect and that will be difficult for you or your mechanic to prove;
Fourth, you will pay a lawyer more in fees than you can probably hope to recover even if you find one interested in taking your claim;
Fifth, cars are most often sold "as is," meaning the seller does not guarantee anything about the cars operability.

I am afraid that your chances of recovering any money from the purchase of this car are nil.

Answer 5

The lemon law wouldnt apply here, and private party sales are considered "as is" unless there is PROOF that the owner YOU PURCHASED IT FROM tried to defraud you. You can try and take them to small claims but your probably wont win because:
its as-is
You have had it for over a month, the damage could have been done on your watch
You did not get it checked out by a mechanic before hand.


Its an expensive lesson you learned, but it really is buyer beware. If you are going to purchase a used car from anywhere but a MAJOR dealership, you should take the car to a mechanic and have it checked out before you purchase it. it would cost about a hundred bucks, but if you did it then you wouldnt have this car now.

PS if you are going to file, start watching the peoples court, they have alot of cases like that and you can probably get a good gist on how strong your case is.

Answer 6

Haven't you watched People's Court? A private sale is an as is sale unless there is a warranty in writing, and did you take the car to be inspected before you bought it?

People need to be a little more responsible when they buy used cars, people never do take them to be inspected before they buy them only after something goes wrong, and usually when the check engine light comes on that is what it means, it doesn't mean continue to drive it. I totally think you are SOL, and shouldn't you have found out what kind of gas mileage it got before you bought it. Sounds like you bought yourself a money pit. Is it an older car?

Answer 7

You purchased that car with no warranty or contract so you basically purchased as is. You should of had a mechanic look at the car before you bought it. I don't think there is anything you can do legally but i am not 100 percent sure.

Answer 8

In most states it goes by the rule of thumb...Buyer Beware... in other words, you most likely got screwed out of your money. Some states do have "lemon" laws...call your local free legal services and ask them what your state laws are about an issue like this.

Answer 9

you ignored the trouble light so you are resposible for any damage. There are no warranties on private sales. you are out of luck.

Answer 10

Buyer beware

You would have to prove they knowingly defrauded you