Purchased Used Car From Deale Will Not Pass Inspection What To Do ?

[shaynelg1]

I purchased a used car from a small very small dealer .. got scammed pretty much . wondering if i have and legal standing to get my money back or if i will win taking them to court .

i bought a 2002 land rover freelander s 121000miles on it car had few problems windos not woking but no engine lights visable . it also was not inspected when purchased which the dealer stated it would pass . shame on me for buying with out this being done i know. but yess i bought the car $2500 drove it about 60miles 2nd day the light pops on with bounch of codes. took back to the dealer basicly told me i was beat it was as is bought . paid to get some fixs from pep boys coeds gone so i took it to inspection it failed . again trying to fix about a week or 2later it failed inspection again . to the point the guy at the inspection station recognized me thr 3rd time asn said." i think theres a law man that they cant sell you a car that wont pass inspection" which brings me here . is there any thing i can do or did i sign my rights away when i bought it "as is from the dealer" any help greatly appreciated ...


Do not name and shame. We don't want to be sued.

 

[army judge]

You can try the state AG.
A dealer can't sell you a car that won't pass inspection, except as you noted -AS IS wasn't smart.
Buying any car with 120,000 miles, not smart.
Buying a 12 year old car, not smart.
Buying any car AS IS, from a dealer, not smart.
I'm afraid, you might be stuck.

Buying any car from a private person, don't do that either.
Those sales are always AS IS.

 

[fredrikklaw]

Luck is on your side!

SHAYNELG1 C. . .

Well, all is not lost at all and you very much have recourse in this since, even though the original plan by the dealer certainly WAS to scam a customer by palming off a lemon and I suspect you are not the only one scammed by this outfit.

You can thank your lucky stars that you bought the car from this "very small" car dealership and not a private seller, since even a rickety-dink dealership is bound by the same rules of licensing by your state's Department of Motor Vehicle as B.M.W.'s biggest authorized dealership. First of all, what this dealership had done to cover the car's defects is nothing but an out- and-out a criminal act which is right up there with odometer tampering in order to reduce mileage.

The way this scam is pulled goes exactly as I will describe it for you below. All engines in any and all cars manufactured from 1996 have to be OBDII compliant. On-Board Diagnostics, or "OBD," is a computer-based system built into all 1996 and later light-duty vehicles and trucks, as required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. OBD systems are designed to monitor the performance of some of an engine's major components including those responsible for controlling emissions. But the quirk of this system is how simple it is to RESET the error codes that are thrown up by the E.C.M. (Engine Control Module) in the form of the dreaded orange CHECK ENGINE LIGHT on your control panel. You will then hook up a OBDII Scanner to the E.C.M. outlet under the steering wheel and obtain the error codes which are in this format:

PO401: Insufficient EGR Flow
PO402: Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Excessive Flow Detected
PO410: Secondary Air Injection System Malfunction
PO420: Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)
PO421: Warm-Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)
PO430: Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 2)
PO431: Warm-Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 2)

There are 711 possible PO generic DTC error codes with each code denoting what needs to be addressed. These 7 codes are the actual codes and which are the most recurring ones in any vehicle having to remission control, of which I am willing to bet you have either PO 401 or PO402., PO420 or PO430 plus one or two more.

Anyways, what these scam artists do in order to fool the customers is that they cancel / reset the codes by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery from the car. This resets the E.C.M. and with it goes off the dread CHECK ENGINE light. But the problem is still there. The E.C.M. checks the data received from all the sensors on your engine in order to trouble shoot and generate error codes, but it can do it only after the engine has completed 2 engine cycles, which are usually either a single 50/60 mile trip two 25/30 mile trips. And until those cycles are completed, the orange light stays off. So, when you are test driving the car, the engine is still doing its calculation within that 60 mile trip parameter and so nothing shows as being wrong, YET! You then buy the car, drive it for two days and there comes on the light.

That is the scam! However, any used car sold by a dealership in a state that requires a Smog Certificate has to provide a PASS SMOG certificate obtained within the previous 90 days of the sale date. In other words, a dealership IS responsible for certifying a vehicle as smog compliance within 90 days prior to sale.

So, go back to the dealership and tell them they either smog and certify the vehicle, or you will report the violation to the local D.M.V. office and file a suit against them at the same time. Don't confuse this matter with any cooling off or buyer's remorse laws where you would not have had a comeback.
This is a clear act of fraud by intentional violation of a serious Environmental Government Statute.

fredrikklaw