Is this legal in ohio?

Question

Is it legal for a dealership to sell you a car, knowing that it has a bad catalytic converter (meaning they turned the light off and it came on when we got home)?

Answer 1

It's not what you know it's what you can prove. Any tampering with the car to hide a technical issue from buyers I would only assume is illegal. But if you literally can't prove it, your probably going to be held to your contract. Try maybe they have a history, and would prefer to help you rather then upset you.

Answer 2

yes, it is called Concealment which is a type of fraud, you can sue.

Answer 3

I think one thing that would be important if you got a lawyer... was it a used car sold "as-is"?

If so, I think would be hard to prove from your end if you didn't have professionally inspected.

Answer 4

You would have to prove that when they inspected the car, it failed emissions and all they did was turn off the light.  That would be almost impossible to do unless you had the mechanic who did it testify to that.  (obviously unlikely).

Remember, any part of a car can go at any time, it could have passed inspection and finally failed the moment you pulled into your driveway (that'll be there argument), which could happen.

Go back to the dealer and ask them to fix it.  Be nice but firm.