Dealership claims salesman never existed, We signed a contract. Help?

[Unreal03]

Hi all, I go to court in 2 weeks and i had a meeting with the owners of a car dealership. At the time of purchase i had the dealership employee sign a paper stating the car had fully functional airbags and recorded the odometer.

Later, I find the odometer was actually rolled back 25,000 miles and the car had no airbags. Dealership claims theperson doesnt exist, contract is faulty, and have no idea who signed the contract and was not liable. Would this be a case of misrepresentation? In short, What is illegal here? Civil tort? Im studying business law in Los angeles but im amateur. Please let me know.

In fact, they put "private seller" as the seller and not the dealership on the bill of sale. They are a licensed dealership after i checked on a government website. What else is broken here?

 

[wisemans_voyage]

Hi all, I go to court in 2 weeks and i had a meeting with the owners of a car dealership. At the time of purchase i had the dealership employee sign a paper stating the car had fully functional airbags and recorded the odometer.

Later, I find the odometer was actually rolled back 25,000 miles and the car had no airbags. Dealership claims theperson doesnt exist, contract is faulty, and have no idea who signed the contract and was not liable. Would this be a case of misrepresentation? In short, What is illegal here? Civil tort? Im studying business law in Los angeles but im amateur. Please let me know.

In fact, they put "private seller" as the seller and not the dealership on the bill of sale. They are a licensed dealership after i checked on a government website. What else is broken here?

So where is the paper with the dealership employee signature on it? Did you actually take possession of the car from the dealership? Was there a contract between you and the dealership or did the dealership get a bank to finance you? You need to be more specific before anyone can help you.

 

[Unreal03]

Employee signed it. I paid for the car in full. I have the car. Contract enlists the dealership as part of the contract. We both signed. They state that employee never exists and it will be hard for me to find him.
i have the contract

 

[wisemans_voyage]

Employee signed it. I paid for the car in full. I have the car. Contract enlists the dealership as part of the contract. We both signed. They state that employee never exists and it will be hard for me to find him.
i have the contract

So does your receipt (contract) show the false odometer reading? If it does and you can prove that it is indeed false, that is one thing you have against the dealership. Also, if there is no airbag when the contract said there was, you should pretty much be able to address that matter in court as well.

I'm befuddled how it came to be a private sale when you go to a dealership and pick out a car and you buy it. Was your receipt a dealership receipt? There should have been more than just a receipt given to you, such as warranty information, etc...

I'm of the opinion that it won't matter if the salesman doesn't exist or not--you purchased the car from a dealership and therefore they should be liable for turning back the mileage and not providing an air bag when they said you have one. Please let us know how it goes in court.

 

[mightymoose]

Is it possible the salesman conducted a private sale?
It sounds as if you have a contract with the salesman, not anything with the dealership... hopefully you have a contract with the dealership letterhead all over it.

I don't understand the airbag issue though... that should have been obvious to you just be looking at the car. It was your responsibility to inspect the vehicle prior to purchase.

I think the odometer reading, if you can prove it, and if it in fact was a sale through the dealership and not a scam private sale by a salesman, then that is your best argument.

 

[Unreal03]

Is it possible the salesman conducted a private sale?
It sounds as if you have a contract with the salesman, not anything with the dealership... hopefully you have a contract with the dealership letterhead all over it.

I don't understand the airbag issue though... that should have been obvious to you just be looking at the car. It was your responsibility to inspect the vehicle prior to purchase.

I think the odometer reading, if you can prove it, and if it in fact was a sale through the dealership and not a scam private sale by a salesman, then that is your best argument.

No, On the bill of sale it states the dealership is the seller. So the dealership sold me the car. However, the contract was signed by an associates of their and they state they have no idea who he is.

I will do the best to prove the odoemeter fraud, i had them sign a contact stating the car had XXX miles and according to the car history, its not the same or near it...


Oh and the airbag situation. The car has no airbags. The scensor states the car has fully functional airbags. The scensor is obv, faulty.. Dealership signed the contract stating it had airbags

Thats where i am at. I go to court in 2 weeks

 

[mightymoose]

Oh and the airbag situation. The car has no airbags. The scensor states the car has fully functional airbags. The scensor is obv, faulty.. Dealership signed the contract stating it had airbags

Oh, I get it. The airbags were either removed or deployed. It sounded as if they had never even been there to begin with.

One of the attorneys around here can better advise on this, but I do believe if there is a question as to whether a certain person has ever been employed by the dealer you can subpoena particular records to see who is on the payroll.