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Is a Dealer liable to inform the car has been wrecked?


Boost-n-Juice

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Say you bought a used vehicle and one of the things to be done after the sale (agreed to on paper) is to fix the alignment. Then the dealership farms out the alignment because they can't do 18" wheels. The shop enlisted to do the work discovers the vehicle has been wrecked recently then repaired and the vehicle can not be properly aligned because the ball joints are bad, the sway bar is bent and the bushings need replaced.

 

How do I get out of this deal? Where do I stand?

 

Oh yeah, the whole driverside of the vehicle seems to have been repaired. Carfax is clean.

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Say you bought a used vehicle and one of the things to be done after the sale (agreed to on paper) is to fix the alignment. Then the dealership farms out the alignment because they can't do 18" wheels. The shop enlisted to do the work discovers the vehicle has been wrecked recently then repaired and the vehicle can not be properly aligned because the ball joints are bad, the sway bar is bent and the bushings need replaced.

 

How do I get out of this deal? Where do I stand?

 

Oh yeah, the whole driverside of the vehicle seems to have been repaired. Carfax is clean.

 

I would contact the dealer first and see what they are going to do about it, if they do nothing then I will contact a lawyer, carfax, and the BBB. If it wasn't reported to insurance and the person paid out of pocket carfax won't have it listed to my knowledge. Be prepared to not drive it so you can prove it has been wrecked or repaired shitty.

 

There was someone who went through this on another board I am on and it took a while but the dealer fixed the car for him. If it were me I'd want my money back. Be prepared for a long drawn out process though.

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In high school, there was a guy I knew who bought a Mustang from Ricart (a used Foxbody). About a year later, he went through a similar situation with the alignment and found the car was wrecked at one point and Ricart failed to disclose this.

 

He ended up with Ricart paying off his loan and giving him any car on the lot he wanted. He chose a, then new, SN95 Cobra.

 

The thing was though, he had to prove Ricart knew the car was wrecked and they sold it knowing this. You'll have to prove that if it you go the legal route.

 

With the Carfax being clean also, that's another hurdle for you to contend with.

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I would go back to the Dealership first and see what they have to say.If you bought it "as is" it's going to be a headache if the Dealership doesn't want to help.Why didn't you take the car elsewhere in the first place and have it checked out?I think there are too many factors we don't know but go to the Used Car Mgr first and sit down and have a talk with him.The LAST thing is to get a lawyer and sue and don't threaten them with a lawyer as they will not be scared.The "I have a Lawyer" is so overused it doesn't do much anymore but piss people off.Take it one step at a time from the Used Car Mgr,to the General Sales Mgr to the Dealer Principal then get a Lawyer if nothing has been taken care of.If it is a reputable Dealership you will be able to reach a reasonable solution without a Lawyer.What Dealership?What kind of car and was it "Certified" ?
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It has been wrecked pretty bad. I'm kickin myslef in the ass for being so foolish, with all the knowledge I have, to have overlooked these obvious problems.

 

Little more detail. I took delivery late on a saturday night, drove it 3 miles home, pulled in the driveway and set the E brake. Came out a hour later to go cruise and the brake was stuck (slightly) so I drove to my buddy's house 1/2 mile away and it was still sticking slightly, so I drove back home.

 

Jacked the rearend up, put it in drive and the damn right rear tire wobbled. The dealer picked it up Sunday on a rollback. I told them the e brake was sticking and wheel/axle is bent. Monday they tell me the truck is ready and nothing was wrong. They did a "brake inspection". I hopped in the truck, put the brake on, turned it off, put it in drive and the truck didn't move. They claimed the wheel was not bent. Tuesday rolls around, they say yes the brake was sticking and they fixed it but the wheel is fine. Drive it home, jack up the rear and the wheel is still wobbling!

 

So then they take the truck to a ford dealer and the axle was replaced. Week later I get the truck back. Still drives like a 4x4 with 44" mudders, all over the place. So my friend is a Manager for the shop that did the alignment, but at a differnt location. We take it up there, put it up the air. We see the bent sway bar and mounts. The balls joints are bad and notice the rocker panel has been replaced. Then we notice the whole bedside has been replaced. Front core support. Upper frame has been bent. We're talkin atleast $7000 in damage!

 

Sorry to ramble, but that is what I have been thru in the past 2 weeks. UGH!

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I've moved up the ranks. I'm to the General manager level. It's a HUGE dealership. I don't want to say names at this point. It was "as is" but I have a piece of paper that says the truck has to be aligned after the sale, but it can't be aligned in it's current condition. It's '00 Lightning, 1 of 900 made in white.

 

I'm going to talk to the gereral manager tomorrow and I will do whatever it takes. I DO NOT WANT a wrecked vehicle. That is what they have the inspection process for. I'm going to ask to see the inspection sheet and take it from there. 6 on your side, BBB, internet, lawyer, whatever it takes. This truck wasn't cheap!

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Same thing happened to me! They never told me the car was wrecked... and when I had my exhaust and quarter panel fixed, they found out the rear frame is bent and was never repaired...
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I do know that new car dealerships in Ohio only are required to disclose any accident damage or repair that excedes 7% of the price of the vehicle.

 

Sorry about your misfortune.

 

 

For that kind damage i would think that way more then 7%

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Check out the time line on this BMV title search. Also notice Ricart is envolved.

 

6000610831 04/25/2005 Original Inactive Transferred Out of County 47855 Actual FINKS USED CARS

 

2507326109 04/22/2005 Original Inactive Transferred Out of County 47614 Actual STIENER AUTOMOTIVE GROUP

 

2507311087 04/15/2005 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 47613 Actual PRIORITY ONE MOTOR SPORTS

 

2507078542 12/03/2004 Original Inactive Transferred Within County 47592 Actual RICART PROPERTIES INC DBA RICART FORD

 

2506968863 09/30/2004 Replacement Inactive Transferred Within County 45940 Actual PRIVATE OWNER

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Here is the carfax title info. Ricart had it for a long time and then took it to Auction it seems...

 

12/03/2004 47,592 Ohio

Motor Vehicle Dept.

Columbus, OH

Title #2507078542

Title issued or updated

New owner reported

 

 

04/05/2005 47,613 Auto Auction

Sold at auction

in Ohio

Listed as

a dealer vehicle

 

 

04/15/2005 Ohio

Motor Vehicle Dept.

Reynoldsburg, OH

Title #2507311087

Title issued or updated

New owner reported

Loan or lien reported

 

 

04/22/2005 47,614 Ohio

Motor Vehicle Dept.

Columbus, OH

Title #2507326109

Title issued or updated

 

 

04/25/2005 47,855 Ohio

Motor Vehicle Dept.

Zanesville, OH

Title #6000610831

Title issued or updated

 

 

06/22/2005 47,857 Ohio

Motor Vehicle Dept.

Columbus, OH

Title #2507437508

Title issued or updated

 

 

07/06/2005 Dealer Inventory

Columbus, OH

Vehicle offered for sale

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As a representative of a local dealership, we do everything we can to insure that our used vehicles do not have frame damage. The auctions that some of these vehicles are purchased from must disclose frame damage. If the dealer finds undisclosed damage, they should bring the car back to the auction for arbitration.

 

We run a carfax on everything we buy in order to cut down on the odds of selling a damaged vehicle. It does us no good to sell something like that. Not only do I want to sell you this car, but I want to sell you the rest of your cars. Someone as big as Ricart just doesnt care about the ones that "slip through the cracks."

 

Later,

Jason

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Fred ricart came in to my restaurant (past the time it closed) and stayed there with his family and friends till very late, occassionally ordering food from my station, which caused me to stay much later than normal. At one point, he walks in and asks if I have a cig. I say nope, it's my last one. He offers me FIVE DOLLARS for one cig, and I still say no. I wouldn't piss on that shitbag if he was on fire.
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I won't talk negatively about a dealership that is considered the company I work fors competition but I don't think I've ever heard of a person(besides on his commercials)having a pleasant experience at Ricart.At the dealership I work at we would do almost anything to make a customer happy.I have learned at training that I have went to that a customer is worth about $250,000.00 to a dealership over their lifetime if they are a happy customer and keep buying and servicing their cars there.I kmow we would work something out especially if you were a repeat customer.
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Did research today and found out when the Truck went thru the auction in april it was docummented as having frame damage. If you look at the time line it was passed thru 3 dealers in 15 days after the autcion. I contacted the puchaser for the 3rd dealer the owned it and he shit himself. Turn out he is friends with the finance manager at the dealership I bought it from and immediatly offered to buy the truck back or find me another one, whatever it takes he says.

 

So hmmmm, why is this guy so concerned? He does not work for the dealership I bought it from, he just sold it to them. What is he hiding? So next thing I know the manager at the place I bought is calling to tell me he will buy the truck back and sell me my trade in for the same price I owed and they would cover taxes etc. Sooooo NOW I have to get another loan to buy my old car back. I just want it over with!

 

All in all I learned a lesson and 12 mpg sucks! No more Lightning for me.

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