need help - lawyer

  • Thread starter gardere_owns_OU
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gardere_owns_OU

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i bought a car in april 07 at town north nissan. told me the car was never in an accident and flashed out the good ol' carfax report showing such.

fast forward to this week.

was hearing things and my car was slowly heating up when i had the a/c on. took it to Infinity dealership to have them look at it. i'm still under 4yrs and 60K so i'm fine under warranty.

well they tell me it is not under warranty because the rear sub frame had been replaced. meaning it was in an accident. so i'm ticked off and head over to town north and tell the sales manager what i was told. he walks around the car with some $750 device checking the paint and he tells me if it had been in an accident this monitor would hit a high number. so basically my paint had never been repainted. so that tells him it has never been in an accident. and he tells me to go back over there.

well he lets his service team look at the car and they tell me it hasn't been in an accident.

well the warranty is with infinity so what they say goes. infinity has been really nice and doing what they can for me. they didn't charge me for both my visits. on my way home from infinity the car finally overheats and i'm stuck on the road. roadside tows my car to infinity and they look at it more.

they say the radiator is clogged and because of a crack on the core support (which holds the radiator in place) they can't warranty it. it'll cost me $900 for them to do the work.

no way. my dad and i will do it ourself. so last night we get the radiator out and take it to a shop. the shop concludes the radiator is fine. so it's probably the water pump or pressure cap. maybe the fans even.

so my car is in my parent's garage in pieces until we figure out what the deal is.




my ******* problem is, town north nissan didn't disclose that the car had been in an accident. they sold me a car that still had a factory warranty on it.. but in retrospect, did not. they're telling me there is no way they could've known if it was in an accident since carfax didn't say anything.

yet if their mechanics truly did an inspection on the car they'd be able to tell the sub frame was replaced just by looking at it. the 22 year old dude at Infinity told me that just by looking at it he knew. sure enough they pull up the service report on my car and it was done october of 06 in florida.


who is responsible? town north sold me a car that was wrecked and didn't disclose it. now i'm out a couple grand trying to fix it and buying parts.
 
instead of getting an attorney a quicker solution might be to make you a sign that tells your story and go stand by the entrance of their dealership. i bet the situation will be resolved shortly for an immediate result, all while suing them.
 
godzillatron wouldn't be big enough for that post.

sigh..

but i'll stand out there with, "they sold me a wrecked car and didn't tell me"
 
doesnt carfax give you a warranty against this ****?

If you still have the report the first dealership showed you, and carfax indeed say it had not been in an accident, then you can get money from carfax... right?
 
The Lemon Law laws in Texas are atrociously difficult to deal with. I had a similar situation with Sewell here in Dallas and had to jump through so many hoops to eventually be told me an administrative law judge that I was out of luck. I guess that is what the car manufacturer/dealership lobbyists paid all that money for when they got the Lemon Law passed. However much I hate to say it, standing outside the dealership with a sign will get you the most action. Suing will get you no where because you have to submit the claim to TxDOT as a pre-condition to suing the dealership.
 
i read up on carfax buy back program. two things strike me out.

i had to register for it within 90 days of purchase.
the claim has to be made within a year a purchase.

unless there is some other warranty i'm not aware of.
 
if you actually went out there and stood with a sign on saturday, it would be resolved within 30 minutes. and it would be funny as hell.

i guess it just depends on how pissed you are.
 
You have a DTPA claim. Email me and I will give you a referral or at least a starting point. I am not sure if he does cases as small as yours, but if you don't I know he will know other lawyers -
[email protected]
 
GOO, I have a nice, new long lens looking 7.1 mp digital camera with an 8 mp memory card.. I can probably shoot up to 1 hour of video & we can get this bad boy up on YouTube if you'd like... I'll be your personal photographer / PR man.

I can stand there next to you with a notepad & the camera, playin the part of a reporter. As soon as they get wind that you're being interviewed by the press, the uphill climb should turn into a downhill slide.

PS: While not a specialist in cars, I think Brisketexan is big on contract law.

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Yes, DTPA is perfect for this...

And you can screw them nicely if your lawyer can prove they did it knowingly or intentionally.

Oh, and go to a psychologist and tell him you cant sleep or eat bc of everything that has happened...even more $$
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JK!!
 
You have two separate issues under the DTPA, and I can't tell what happened from your post.

If they affirmatively told you at any point that it wasn't in an accident, then you have a DTPA claim, whether they knew that statement was true or not. You can sue over a verbal misrepresentation, but it would be nice if there was something in writing.

If they didn't tell you that it wasn't in an accident, then you have a failure to disclose claim, and that claim can only be made under the DTPA if you prove that they knew it was in an accident and they still failed to disclose that fact to you. A much harder standard.
 
A) Call the Nissan Dealership and inquire about what sort of inspections if ANY they do on their used cars? Tape record that conversation.

B) call back later and talk with the manager about your problem. Be nice and ask about how their used vehicle inspection could miss something like a replaced frame section that would void a manufacturer's warranty?

C) Give the the opportunity to make it right, and be willing to meet them halfway if they can seel you a warranty that THEY will honor, for a greatly reduced price.

If all of the above do not work, simply get a big peice of poster board and Picket them with a "Beware_ the used car you think has a warranty may have been wrecked! MINE WAS!!!

I know a gal who had a Lexus she had some problems with. She put a sign in the back of her window "I hate my Lexus" nothing more. Within two weeks the dealer contacted her and she was sold a new (or barely used-can't remember) Lexus a model up for about the same cost as her first purchase.

Dealers are shitting bricks trying to sell cars, and they don't want somebody picketing their store on a Weekend. Get your dad to come as well as two signs are better than one! I figure by mid day they will be asking you what they can do for you...
 
i'll need a sunday to do this. football comes first. or our off week in a few weeks would be an ideal saturday.

thanks for the suggestions and everything.

nissan called me yesterday to get information and i was nice. agitated, but nice. i just asked that they do something for me and help me out.
 
does drew shirley still post on this board? or anyone else with news station connections? go out there in your green sleeves and placard, and have someone start setting up camera equipment. have someone else hiding with a handycam to film the dealer running out there to give you a wad of money or throw a tantrum.
 
Technically -

the $750 device used to measure the paint thickness must be calibrated... if the thing is not, then it couldn't possibly determine any discrepencies.
If they continually come at you with those instrument readings, have 'em provide proof of a reliable measure.

> Give Em Hell
I mean, a car dealership using an instrument like that? It would be more plausible in pure industrial-type settings... where calibration is a quality-must.

Oops - wrong argument - but picky detail.. does an out of spec. instrument even pick up a re-paint?
A Sales Mngr. showing you a tehchnical reading? ... Pfffft !!!
 
If you don't get any resolution to your satisfaction & if you do go with the sandwich board idea, a Saturday may not be the issue as some dealerships in the area are closed due to Texas Football (& open on Sundays).

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Let me respond as a lawyer who represents one of the largest dealerships in South Texas.

I really like the ideas about visible protests. If dealing with the dealership directly accomplishes nothing, I would take this route. Document all of your attempts to resolve the issue with them prior, though.

With that said, I get cases like this tossed out all the time on MSJ. It's next to impossible to PROVE the car was delivered to you in that condition, unless you can find inspection documentation which states as such or find a solid witness. Evidence of potential damage is not enough. You need evidence that the car was in that condition at the time of purchase.

I know my dealership's body shop goes above and beyond when it comes to inspecting used vehicles before they go out on the lot. Finding and fixing damage is part of the way the body shop generates money; they simply tack the cost on to the sales price.

Document your efforts. Bug the hell out of everyone at the dealership. Take your problem public, if need be. But know this, litigation is a very long road to head down.
 
GOO-- Tomorrow's game is not until 9:15!! You should gather the Come and Take It crew for some lunch-time picketing, and then grab some beers
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rgvfirm, i have a service report from infinity that on 10/05/06 the sub frame was replaced. i'm guessing that is good enough proof that the damage was prior to my purchase.
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the service guy at infinity said he just looked up underneath the car and could easily tell me the subframe had been replaced.

nissan said they look for welding to make determinations if something had been done, and found none during the inspection.

infinity has been helpful every step of the way and nissan called me back today and told me they had involved the GM as well as some other higher ups... so they're getting on the same pace and i'm hoping for a resolution later today.

if i don't get help, i'll more than likely stand outside with a sign. but i'm confident nissan is going to do their best to accomodate me.
 
I hate to point this out but you need to read your purchase contract. I think I remember all of mine having some clause about arbitration. No clue if that is enforceable.
 
You need to begin immediately. Put a large sign in the back of your car, or write on it with the white window paint that washes off easily. If your car is down, use another car. State the obvious truth.

"Town North Nissan sold me a Junker under false pretenses- Beware"

Drive around for a while with that on the car. Pull in the lot right in front of the sales area, and ask for a service manager. See if they fix it then.

If you could prove that the dealer knew the car had problems, but pulled up a clean Carfax report, and used it to sell the car, you may be able to recover fraud damages as well. Do you know the car salesman's name who sold you the car? These guys change dealerships all the time. He would make an excellant witness, if you could find him/her.

Start now. Hook em.
 
it'd been so long... thanks for asking y'all.

well turns out it wasn't my radiator. my dad and i removed it ourselves and had it flushed out. a radiator shop found nothing wrong with it. so we put it back together and the car magically stopped overheating. we did change out a few belts while we had the car a part.

despite the problem no longer persisting, i wanted to trade it in anyways. the thought of having a car that had that kind of work done to it made me unhappy.

and i've always favored being in a truck over a car. so i traded it in at a different dealership and worked them pretty hard and got what i wanted and then some on a new 08 4 door gmc sierra.

since i live where i work, gas prices aren't too big a problem for me. with a 60 month 100K warranty, i feel a lot more comfortable.
 
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