Can I sure a car dealership for false warranty?

[david3]

I recently purchased a used car and was told it came with a 7 year or up to 100K mile warranty and I purchased a wrap around coverage with the warranty. This was a major reason why I purchased the car! However after dropping my car to get detailed at the dealership service center, the attendant noticed that my warranty was valid for an unusually long time. After a few calls were made to the sales team inside, I was told to go clarify the warranty with the them. The sales person that sold me the car now says that the 7 year warranty was from the first inservice date of the vechile and is actually only valid for another 2 years! Which was not said to me. So after complaining, I was told I "misunderstood" the sales person and "misinterpreted" what he said (However my fiancee was with me the entire time and heard the same thing I heard). Also on the contract it states that i purchased a wrap around coverage that states "84 months / 100,000 miles". However they came back and told me the vechile was first "inserviced" not in 2005 but 2007 because it was a demo car at first (which wasn't told to me), so the warranty is actually valid for 4 years not 2 years.. Still angry, i was told to call the used car manager the next days. After meeting the used car manager he now states that the inservice date was actually in 2005 not in 2007 that the other employee told me and that the only thing he could do was once i receive the car title he could look to see if he has any 2007 models that would be "around" the same price. I told him that I am not paying a dollar more however he came back and told me he cannot gaurantee it. Can i sue this dealership?

 

[army judge]

Anyone can sue anyone they desire.

The better question to ask is, can I prevail, should I sue.

From what you say, you MIGHT have a case.

My question is, what damages would you be seeking?

How have you been harmed?

You purchased a used car, a 5 year old used car.

How many miles were alleged to be on that car?

It isn't what anyone told you, it's what your contract and/or sales documents state, that will be relevant in court.

So, think about what you want your remedy to be in relationship to what the car cost you.

Somewhere between here and there, your potential damages could lie.

Then decide how and where you will sue.

Small claims cases aren't free to initiate, nor are they easy to litigate, especially against shyster, used car thieves!

 

[david3]

The car only has 45K. I am only looking for the dealership to honor what I purchased. Would the contract that states 84months / 100,000 hold the dealership to the warranty?

 

[army judge]

The car only has 45K. I am only looking for the dealership to honor what I purchased. Would the contract that states 84months / 100,000 hold the dealership to the warranty?

It isn't as simple as you believe it to be, or the dealer would settle with you.

You appear to have a dispute surrounding an interpretation of facts.

You seem to believe that you are entitled to a 100k or 7 year warranty.

The dealership is trying to screw you into believing you have a 100k warranty (with 45 k already used) or a 7 year warranty with 5 years having passed, and only 2 years remaining!

They know that you probably won't drive 55k in two years, so their interpretation is that your warranty will expire in two years, or sometime in 2012!

You could bring a case on this.

I don't know what success you will have.

If you bring it in small claims court, that court can't order specific performance.

They can only order financial penalties.

So, I ask you again, what are your damages?

This will all come down to them giving you some maney back, if that happens.

You will never get a court to order them to provide you with a 7 year and/or 100k warranty on a 5 year old used car.

And, as I said, a small claims court has no jurisdiction or authority to order specific performance as a remedy.

So, you can hire a lawyer and seel specific performance in a higher level court in your state.
That specific performance being give you a 7 year warranty and/pr 100k coverage.
That is going to be more expensive than you imagine, and your chance of winning (because they'll have a lawyer, too), is about 25% or less.

You can sue them in small claims for the value of the warranty they failed to give you, and that might only be about $2,000 to $4,000 back from the purchase price of the car.

You can discuss this with a local lawyer, the initial consult is usual;ly free.
Take all your paperwork if you decide to see a local lawyer.
Good luck.

 

[mightymoose]

In the end, the dealership got it right- that is how it works.

However, what really matters here is how it was represented to you at the time you bought the car. They want to claim that you misunderstood, however from what you indicate here, they showed in their own information that the car had a 7 year warranty when you brought it in for service... which means it wasn't necessarily your misunderstanding, and possibly an error on their part or a false representation.

You have a reasonable complaint to make if you truly believed at the time of purchase that you were getting a 7 year warranty from that date. Do you have anything at all in your sales documentation that explains the dates of the warranty at the time of the sale?

If it were me, and knowing now that the car truly only has 2 years left, I would have to look over the numbers and decide an amount that I felt would reasonably compensate me for the 5 years of warranty that I believed I had paid for. If the dealership refuses to offer you a reasonable compensation and you feel you are entitled to something, take your issue to small claims and let a judge decide.

The fact that it was entered in their computers as a 7 year warranty should really help your argument... though you don't really have a way to prove that, they would probably acknowledge it in their attempt to explain the situation.