Circumstantial evidence vs. a lying witness

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bobterry99

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I am in Atlanta Georgia. A used car dealer here advertised a 1997 Mercedes S500 for sale for $4500. I bought the car, and three weeks later received the title which stated the car is in fact an S420 Mercedes -- a model which is identical in appearance, yet worth considerably less money.

I filed a lawsuit to have the dealer take the car back and refund my money. In his reply, he states that I knew the car was an S420 before I drove it off his lot. This is a bold-face lie, and I have circumstantial evidence that I think fairly convincingly shows it is a lie.

I am posting here because I have a dilemma. There were two people witness to the transaction: a friend of the dealer, and my mother. I suppose this dealer may bring his friend to court to support his false story, and I wonder if the testimony of this witness will have greater weight than my circumstantial evidence; and if so, should my mother go to the trouble of appearing in court to rebut? My mother lives 5 hours from me and would rather not make the trip.
 
Do you have the advertisement that showed it was an S500?
What does it say on the paperwork you signed when you bought the car?
Are there any markings on the car that show it is S500 or S420?

If mom was actually present and witnessed a conversation then it wouldn't hurt to bring her along.
 
Thanks for the reply. I have the ad showing S500, and the car is badged S500. The dealer wrote on the "drive-out tag" that the car is an S500. The dealer claims that I looked under the hood and realized the car was an S420 before leaving has lot, and that I negotiated the price down from $5500 to $4200. This is a lie, and I think I can show this because: (1) the advertised price was $4500 (he can't even accurately remember the price he advertised!) and (2) I plan to show a picture of an S500 engine and another of an S420 engine -- both from eBay -- to prove my assertion that you can't tell these two cars apart by looking at their motors.
 
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Sounds like you are well prepared and have all you need. With that info you shouldn't need mom to come along... but it still wouldn't hurt just in case.

Just curious though... is it possible that the title you received is wrong? Have you verified the VIN with a dealer to see what kind of vehicle it is?
 
I ran the VIN through Carfax, and it confirmed the car is an S420.

I'm going to go it alone and hope I can get by without my mother's testimony.
 
You should have it in the bag. The dealers advertisement and the documents from the sale indicate the car is a different model than it is.
They can say that you became aware somehow... but that does not explain their incorrect ad and documentation.
 
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