What are my rights if I recently bought a car from a used dealership and it have been having problems with it?
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What are my rights if I recently bought a car from a used dealership and it have been having problems with it?
I have taken it in about 3 times and last week brought it in for a fourth time. Now other things are starting to go bad on the car and I am going to be paying a lot of money for it. Do I have the right to ask for a refund for my down payment or ask for a different car?
Asked on November 9, 2015 under Business Law, Wisconsin
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
Did you get a warranty on the car? If so, you can enforce your rights under the warranty.
If not, the issue is whether the dealer knew about the problems (or reasonably must have known; under the circumsances, any dealer would logically have known) and, if so, knowingly lied about them. If so, then the dealer may have committed fraud, and fraud may be a basis for rescinding (undoing) the sale or seeking monetary compensation. (You'd have to sue the dealer if they won't voluntarily do this.)
But if the problems are not ones which the dealer would have known about, there is no fraud; and if there is no fraud and no warranty, you'd have not basis for action.
You write that there was a 30-day, 1,000-mile warranty: if you are within those limits, review the terms of the warranty to see your rights. Warranties are contracts; you have those rights contained or set out within them--no more and no less.
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