Sold my Truck, then it broke down

Wreckers in Austin charge about $75 for an in-town tow, and about $1.50 per mile for every mile outside of town. Now maybe for a long tow, the guy negotiated a fee, or had a friend tow it with a pick-up and a tow dolly, or something like that.
re: removing the bulb-a shop doing electrical work on a vehicle would have no reason to remove the check engine light bulb. They would have to remove the instrument cluster and then twist the bulb holder out of its place in the back of the cluster. Why would anyone do this? I can assure you a technician working for commission is only interested in fixing the problem as quickly as possible and moving to the next job. And he doesn't want the car to come back and have to do it again for no pay. I can see why sleezy used car dealers do this, but not a repair shop.
Maybe in working on the wiring the wire from the ECM (vehicle computer) that powers the check engine light got cut or disconnected.
What electrical problem was the shop working on? Was it related to the ECM, or something under the dash?
Maybe the light bulb just burnt out. It can happen, although not too common.
If you saw the light coming on when you started the car in the past, and it then went out after a few seconds, then it was working correctly at that time. So if the bulb is really missing, which you have no way of verifying, that is hard to believe.
Something ain't kosher in Denmark.
And all of that may or may not have anything to do with the transmission. It could, but it's a little unlikely. And blaming the last shop that worked on it for all this is also pretty unlikely, although that's what lawyers like to do.
 
How much did you sell the truck for and how much are this guy's alleged damages? While it sounds like a scam, I might think about paying maybe 25% of the repair cost if I could be convinced the repairs actually took place.
 
All settlements are arbitrary. I would feel bad if someone I just sold a truck to had it immediately break down. I come up with 25% by reducing by 50% twice. 50% for it benefiting the purchaser to have a new or rebuilt transmission and then an additional 50% reduction from the 50% (or to get to 25%) for it not really being my fault.

This also sort of depends on the price and cost of repair. If the truck was sold for $3,000 and the repairs were $1,000. I think $250 is fair. If the truck sold for $1,000 and the repairs were $2,500, I wouldn't pay anything.

I don't view these little consumer disputes as having any magic to them and if it goes to small claims court somebody is going to win or lose and both sides may lose. The legalities are pretty irrelevant at this level of a dispute although Nick is certainly right that caveat emptor is, for the most part, no longer the law.
 
FWIW, I have the distinct impression that HatDaddy is one or was one or knows insurance adjusters and is well aware of how the cow eats the cabbage on the farm.
 
You sound like a first year law student which is why I asked.

I am board certified in Consumer and Commercial Law and have practiced for 22 years. I could probably win this case on either side of the transaction (although there are a bunch of facts that need to developed). You have no idea what the actual facts are and yet are opining that the seller wins automatically. This is not necesarily true particularly if he failed to disclose something or made some sort of representation concerning the quality of the truck. And the buyer might just lie about it and then you have a swearing match where a JP or jury could easily find for the buyer because he suffered a loss.

This transaction is not nearly as clear cut as you seem to think it is. I also guarantee you that I could make the seller spend more than the cost of the truck fighting me.

And guess what?

None of this really matters because the amounts involved as so low that no lawyer is going to touch the case (unless the buyer has a buddy). So it really then devolves into what is practical. I have practiced more than long enough to understand that giving a little is often a better approach than telling folks to pound sand.

Why don't you tell me what do you do if the buyer sues the seller in JP court in El Paso? How much will this cost?

(btw this entire deal sounds like a scam to me so this is all academic)
 
Sounds like radio silence is the best bet at this point. I hope you are familiar with the cow/cabbage expression and understood that it just means that you understand how things work in REAL life.

I think you are in pretty good shape on your deal.

BTW, I gave MY son a Frontier last summer. That mofo will ride a hole in the wind. I bought it after he rolled a Ranger on his way to the coast. I like the Frontier MUCH better than the ugly *** POS Ranger. So much more that I even insured it.

Gotta hand it to the ranger though. The boy rolled it on his 18th and when it started rolling he laid down across the console and the airbag pinned him to the seat while the cab was crushed down on top of him. He managed to crawl out and then got treated at the scene by EMS who rinsed some dirt out of his eyes. The salvage value of the truck was $0.00. Wasn't even worth hauling it to the crusher so I gave it to my friend who sold me the Frontier. He took little pieces of this and that off of it as he is in the salvage business. Even the tires were shredded.
 
That Frontier was a great truck for me and my Dad. Never had any issues. We kept it well maintained, so it ran great.
I wanted to keep it to put on a lease somewhere since it had 4X4 and was a crew cab, but I needed the dough for my new business.
 
Were you ever shown any PROOF that the truck broke down at all? I wouldn't believe a word the buyer said to you until thorough documentations was provided to back up his claim of 500 miles of towing, busted tranny, and all that noise.

I'll lay 10 to 1 odds this guy was fishing for extra cash from a bleeding heart sucker, and he never really had any mechanical issues with your truck at all.
 
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