Is there anything you can do if a car dealership sells you a bad car?

Question

I recently bought a used car from a dealership. It was about 3 months ago. First off they never inspected the car and there was over $3000 worth of work that needed to be done. I found out about that after about a week. They fixed the thermostat for free but now there is a chance that the transmission is going. Is there anything that i can do?

Answer 1

There are no lemon laws or law allowing you to return a USED car.  Lemon laws apply to new cars only.  Almost every USED car sale in the US is an "as-is" sale.  What you see is what you get - do the research (Carfax) and the inspection ahead of time - there is no turning back the clock!

The exceptions are

California Car Buyer's Bill of Rights - You have the option to PURCHASE for a small fee the right to return the car for 48 hours.

http://www.mtrlaw.com/lawyer-attorney-11...

Minnesota has a similar law.

http://www.senate.mn/members/member

Answer 2

lemon laws apply only to new cars, do a search.

you should consult the arrenty given to you when you bought the car.  if you can't find it, there isn't one.  

if you read your contract, you will find a no warrenty, as is policy.

the question is, did you inspect the car?

fix it and enjoy your ride.

Answer 3

THEY (as in the dealer) did not inspect the car?

Say what?

You got this idea wrong.  YOU as the buyer are supposed to get that done.  It's bad enough that you bought a used out of warranty VW, but it's your investment, you make sure it works right!

Enjoy your car.  You have no recourse.

Answer 4

Depending on your state there is a 'lemon law' check with your local Chamber of Commerce for details.

Answer 5

at this point not really .. in the future, there are cheap power train warranty's you can buy ... 12 months/12,000 miles usually

ohh also, i know this isn't very nice, but many small business's, doctors, lawyers, cops, judges, big business's, people in general, are finding that it is very easy for them to find their reputations ruined in a matter of days, due to all of us networking together on the net like this ... although to damage their reputation, i would suggest revealing their name, and what they did to you etc ... and not to insult yahoo, but blogs, and forums, and what not may be a better medium, simply due to yahoo's obsession with deleting posts (because they're spineless)

also the better business bureau, different fraud watchdog groups may be useful as well.

i dont know how ethical this is, but i have seen many "professionals" clean up their acts very quickly due to networking of victims.