What can we do if we bought a used car and now have to pay $3000 to get it running right?

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What can we do if we bought a used car and now have to pay $3000 to get it running right?

My husband bought a car off of an local add knowing that the timing belt need to be changed; when he test drove the car it did not run right the man he bought the car from said he had all the papers from the dealer saying it was just the timing belt. After getting home and replacing the timing belt on the car the car still would not run right so we took it to the shop and had a couple of things changed but that still didn’t fix the problem. Finally we took it to the deaerl ourself’s and after 3 weeks of them working on it we found out that it had $3000 in repairs needed.

Asked on September 30, 2010 under General Practice, Utah

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

Two issues:

1) If the seller made knowing misrepresentations, he may have committed fraud, which would provide grounds to rescind the contract or sue for damages. However, if he honestly told you what he knew and  had reason to know--i.e., he may have been wrong, but he didn't lie--there's probably no cause of action there.

2) If there was any sort of warranty, guaranty, etc., that could be enforced; but  if there wasn't, then there is no obligation to fix problems, refund money, or otherwise make sure the care was working right. If it was sold essentially "as is"--like most or nearly all sales are, in the absence of a warranty of some kind--and there also was no fraud, there may be little or nothing you can do.


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