car broke down just a few miles from the dealer after purchace

[rseigart]

my step daughter bought a used car from a dealer a few days ago, which she paid for with cash. she was told that it had a little over heating problem, that they thought might just be a heater coil problem. she went ahead and purchased the car but just several miles after leaving the dealership, she said the car overheated and started knocking. she pulled into a parking lot and shut it off which wouldn't start back up. she thinks it might be more than an overheating problem, like valves sticking or something. she contacted the dealership to see if they could help her in either repairing the car or getting her money back which of course they said there was nothing that they were going to do. my question is, isn't there a "lemon law" in georgia? my ex-father-in-law was a car dealer at one time and would fix alot of cars that he sold, but he was just a nice guy like that. i thought there was an "implied warranty" for the drive train that covers used cars even though they are sold "as is". please let me know what she can do, if anything.

 

[jharris352]

I am a dealer in Georgia and NO there is no lemon law on used cars. Your story is something all good dealers hate to hear but there is certainly no "implied warranty" in an AS IS sale. I'm constantly amazed that the words AS IS do not mean more to people than they do. I am truly sorry, if it were one of my cars I would either have not sold it or would fix it now. In your case they even TOLD HER that there was a overheating problem. Overheating is NEVER a little problem. knocking is another problem that can be very big. Your step daughter should not be shopping for cars alone. Send a mechanic with her.

I wish I had better news for you, I wish she dealt with someone who cared, but AS IS truly means AS IS.

PS: My other pet peeve in the business is when people buy a car or look at a car for $1,000 and they act like it should be a new car off the showroom. Cheap cars are cheap for a reason.

I hope you get the problem taken care of but she has absolutely no legal leg to stand on.

 

[rseigart]

thank you for your input and yes, we tried to tell her about not buying a car without checking it out thoroughly but she was in such a hurry to get a car. but i cant believe that for $1,300 the car should at least last for more than 1 day, but we also believe he "doctored" the car to be sellable. again , thanks.

 

[jharris352]

You can get a car for $1300 that will last more than one day but you are going to buy a car with problems at that price. You don't have to "doctor it" if you can tell the buyer that it has a problem overheating and she says OK! It is very very hard to get a decent car for $1300 unless you go to craigs list and find some grandma selling her car. Even then you need to check the car out carefully. If you are in Atlanta I might be willing to try to help you.