Dealership lied about warranty and car-fax service record

[fgalangsocal18]

Jurisdiction

California

After owning the car for almost 4 months and less than 2,000 miles of driving. Turns out car is out warranty and I'm facing an almost $5,000 repair bill. Verified that all parts would have been covered by Audi factory warranty but too bad I missed the warranty by almost 2 months.

The only main reason I chose to purchased my Audi S7 from the VW Dealership(same owner and identical parts) was because they told me the car's certified pre-own warranty is transferrable and the car's warranty would not expire until Oct. 2018. Did not order a pre-purchase inspection because car fax says the car has been serviced before they offer the car for sale. certified pre-own warranty is not transferrable and car's warranty expires Dec. 2017, 2 months after I purchased the car and not the promised Oct. 2018. Cannot find this on paper anymore.

I have tried my best to be civil and work with the VW dealership for more than a month but they are not willing to offer any kind of help financially. VW of America would not take action as well and can't offer any help. The VW dealership manager told the VW of America representative the same Oct. 2018 expiration date through a phone conversation and the VW representative. Audi of America is willing to help but for a very low fraction of the cost. What can I do? I surely don't want VW dealership to just ignore me and get away with this after selling me a not so cheap car which actually needs major repairs done.

 

[army judge]

What can I do?

Not much you can do, other than ask the dealership to assist you.

Your problem is that you don't have the expiry date in writing.

As I understand it, you learned of the October date via a telephone call.

If you had something in writing stating an October 2018 expiry date, you might be able to get more help.

Without a written contract, all you have is a someone allegedly said versus what someone allegedly heard.

 

[txls]

I agree. If you tried to take them to court you would have to have evidence/proof of the warranty date. You can try going higher up the chain at the Dealership if so far you've only spoken to the service mgr.

 

[zddoodah]

Your post seems to start right in the middle of a story, so it's a little difficult to determine exactly what happened here.

You're squarely in small claims court territory. You can also make a claim against the dealer's motor vehicle dealer bond.

 

[adjusterjack]

certified pre-own warranty is not transferrable and car's warranty expires Dec. 2017, 2 months after I purchased the car and not the promised Oct. 2018.

Did you insist on and read the warranty before you bought the car or did you just rely on what the car dealer "told" you?

What can I do?

Try contacting your local TV consumer affairs reporters. A little adverse publicity sometimes works wonders.

 

[fgalangsocal18]

Thank you for all the response so far.

I bought the car October 2017. The Oct. 2018 warranty was being brought up to me while we were signing the papers. I trusted them because they insisted that the Audi Certified Pre-Owned warranty was also transferrable that is why the expiration is in a year(October 2018) instead of 2 months remaining warranty(December 2017) No actual date of warranty expiration in my date but they might have it because I could swear I saw the October 2018 in one of the paperworks that I have signed.

The phone conversation that I brought up in my original post was between the VW America Regional case manager and the sales manager of the VW Van Nuys dealership. He told me that they were all unaware that the Certified Pre-Own warranty not being transferrable. And the sales manager told him that the factory warranty should have been Oct. 2018 as well. Why would they give me a false crucial information if they are not sure about it? I can probably ask a written statement from Volkswagen America regional case manager that the sales manager told hm the exactly the same Oct. 2018 factory warranty expiration. Guessing they give wrong informations to all their used car buyers. I only have the form the says as-is no warranty and warranty check box. Of course warranty box was checked but my mistake was I should have told them to put the right or insisted warranty expiration instead of leaving it blank. Sounds very suspicious.

How about them reporting to car-fax that they serviced the car prior to selling it? Would there be any case about this at all? If they did service the car, they can easily see the leaking fluid from the motor mount. No parts underneath covers the motor mount and is highly visible. And the control arms is considered a suspension-safety part isn't it? They told me that they only did a "safety inspection" that is why it's marked service by their dealership.

Furthermore, I read somewhere that there might be also a case if it was not disclosed to the buyer that the car was a previous loaner car? I saw that the first owner of the car is listed as a "corporate" type owner and not a personal type owner. Saw all the service, maintenance and factory repairs done in one dealership only and that the same dealership offered the car as a Certified Pre-Owned around 40,000 miles. Second owner was a private owner, drove the car for approximately 8,000 miles in only 8 months of ownership and trade it in for a much cheaper car at the same Volkswagen Dealership I bought my car from.

 

[fgalangsocal18]

Not much you can do, other than ask the dealership to assist you.

Your problem is that you don't have the expiry date in writing.

As I understand it, you learned of the October date via a telephone call.

If you had something in writing stating an October 2018 expiry date, you might be able to get more help.

Without a written contract, all you have is a someone allegedly said versus what someone allegedly heard.

I tried to get in contact with the dealership the same day I found out about all the repairs needed. Never heard anything back from the sales person that helped me out and the sales manager that sat down with me to sign the papers. 2 weeks later of trying to get in contact with anyone from their dealership, I finally got a hold of their general manager after finding his direct email address through yelp.

They referred me to an independent shop. At first they made it seems like they are planning to help cover some of the repair bill. Drove my car to the independent shop but was turned away and would not even checked my car thoroughly as he told me that the dealership told him that they are not paying anything at all and that I will be covering all the repair bill. I didn't tell the dealership that the owner of the independent shop told me about this and I want to hear the general manager say this directly to me. I decided to drop off my car the same day to have them scan the car and have them deal with the independent shop themselves. After a month of going back and forth and leading me on, they finally told me that they are not willing to provide any financial assistance. Very frustrated and disappointed that even if I take some time off work trying to be civil about it at first.

October 2018 date was brought up to me even before we decided to start signing the sale contract forms. While we were signing the contracts, I keep on asking about certified pre-owned warranty and the sales manager told me that I can easily look it up online and it is transferable no doubt. Came back 5 days later as he messed up something in the contract and I asked him the same question about the certified pre-owned warranty transfer and told me the same thing. I listened and trusted them because they are a Volkswagen company, same company as Audi. My mistake was I should have asked Audi first instead of relying to their sister company, Volkswagen.

 

[fgalangsocal18]

Your post seems to start right in the middle of a story, so it's a little difficult to determine exactly what happened here.

You're squarely in small claims court territory. You can also make a claim against the dealer's motor vehicle dealer bond.

Please educate me about small claims court. I am considering doing this but I want to hear more advise through here. Can I still take this to small claims court even after I already paid for the repairs? Will I be able to ask for a reimbursement through small claims?

 

[zddoodah]

Please educate me about small claims court. I am considering doing this but I want to hear more advise through here.

What do you want to know? Before you ask more specific questions, I suggest you review the governing statutes and also read this.

Can I still take this to small claims court even after I already paid for the repairs? Will I be able to ask for a reimbursement through small claims?

Yes and yes.

 

[Highwayman]

You chose to skip an inspection because of a lousy CarFax report? You do realize that CarFax is not a be all and end all and that their information can be very inaccurate?

 

[army judge]

You chose to skip an inspection because of a lousy CarFax report? You do realize that CarFax is not a be all and end all and that their information can be very inaccurate?

The obvious solution is the most avoided solution.

Some people have the vehicle inspected by a trusted mechanic.

Yes, that might reveal some problems before you decide to buy the vehicle.

Even an inspection can't predict what might happen in a week, a month, or three months down the road; especially with an older used vehicle.


Used vehicles are akin to that great new woman or man you've just begun to date.

He or she has history, and somewhere on this planet is a former partner who cringes at the thought of the person's very name.

In other words, the golden prince or princess you THINK you've just met, is someone's evil, wicked warlock or witch.