Consumer Law, Warranties Sold used auto, Vehicle broke down, Can I be sued?

[newmission]

My jurisdiction is: Ohio

Forgive me if this is answered in other forums. I searched with what time I had before posting.

My question is, Can I be sued if a used auto I sold as a private party broke down recently after selling?

The story.
I buy and flip cars as a way of extra income. I rebuilt an older vehicle and, to my knowledge, the car was reliable as sold. This vehicle happens to be a 92 Honda Prelude with 192K on the motor. It has had extensive modifications and is classified as a "tuner" car. I put the vehicle up for sale, and had a response from a women in her mid-40s that didn't seem too car savvy, but did know the right questions to ask.

Within the next couple days, I received a call from her saying the car would not start and is making very strange noises. Now as I didn't feel I should be responsible for her problems, although I did wish to make a happy buyer, I offered my help.

I offered my time to come out and get the car going. Also I offered her my personal repair manual for the vehicle that she can read if any further issues arise. I found the motor had sprung a leak and lost all of it's coolant thus resulting in the engine to seize up. I forced the engine to run to show her everything else is sound, although the engine obviously suffered damage. Yes the gauges did work to tell her the car would have been over-heating. So it would have been her choice to keep driving it if there was a problem.

I then requested she sign a piece of paper that read... I purchased such vehicle on such date from such person in good faith as is and was signed.

Should I worry about any possible law suit from this issue?

THANKS for helping me sleep at night from any advice you have!

 

[dee_dub]

Short answer: no, you should not worry about a possible lawsuit. You shouldn't worry about things that might or might not happen.

Long answer: You can be sued. You can almost ALWAYS be sued. Whether she will succeed is a different question. She would need to convince the judge something like that you knew or ought to have known the engine was faulty, and had a duty to disclose it, and failed to disclose it; or that the contract has an implied term that the car would not have that defect. Personally, I like your chances, but you never know. You may be protected by the "as is" disclaimer. If your argument that the engine would have showed it was overheating and she caused further damage by running it in that state is accepted, which seems reasonable enough to me, it would further reduce any award of damages she might receive.