Help, drove car away and it died! Can I get my && back?

[poncey76]

Hello. We bought a car this week and literally drove it out of their neighborhood and onto the interstate and it died. It was the engine which is a MAJOR issue!! The guy said he would refund our money, now he's saying he'll give all but $500 back to us. It was $3500 total. He won't do anything until we have the title but will not put anything in writing. We have to wait 15 days to get the title. Can we do anything to make sure we get our money? Can we get all of it or should we settle for the $3000 back? Should we hire a lawyer or what should we do? We feel like complete idiots!!
Thanks!

By the way, we live in North Carolina if that matters with state laws.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

This sounds like a small claims court issue. I'm not sure there is a used car lemon law in North Carolina like there is in NY. http://www.oag.state.ny.us/consumer/cars/usedqa.html

The FTC has some guidelines: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/autos/usedcar.shtm

It seems to me that the lemon laws in North Carolina apply to new cars. Now here is something you can discuss. If he didn't put anything in writing and didn't sell it clearly "as is" then perhaps you may have a case that the car was represented as something that it was not and the terms were not "as is." Why did you not get title upon paying for the car?

 

[poncey76]

They lost the title so we had to get a duplicate which takes a 15 day waiting period. You know as I look back on this, I think the guy knew what he was doing. We didn't get a bill of sale or anything that stated "as is." So, can we argue latent defect or implied warranty or something. We will need a lawyer right??