First, the facts. I live in Missouri. On the 6th of this month my son bought a van from a local car lot, purchased as-is, for $1500. I went with him to pick it out, test drove it, it passed inspection, looked like it was in good shape.
He drove it three days and it started over-heating. He took it to a mechanic and discovered that the water pump is broken, it needs a new drive belt, the radiator is full of rust, the U-joint needs replaced, and the leaf-springs are about to rust in two. Bottom line, we got a quote of $1300 minimum to fix the silly thing.
I’ve been googling lemon laws, but all I can find pertains to new vehicles or used vehicles purchased with warranty. Several people have told me that a buyer has 30 days to return a used vehicle even if it’s bought without a warranty, but I can’t find any proof of this anywhere, and suspect it’s one of those “facts” that everybody knows but isn’t actually true.
So, my question is, are we completely screwed here, or do we have a right to take this hunk of junk back to the lot and get our money back?
Seriously you have just learned a good life lesson. You would have been money ahead to pay the most expensive technician in town an hours labor to inspect this car before buying. A rusty radiator, bad water pump drive belts, bad u-joints should show up in any inspection done by a pro. I will reserve comment on rusty leaf springs, we don’t get rust here on So Cal so I don’t have any experience.
I will go ahead and and Aunt 90’s advice: in this day and age DO NOT purchase a used car under $5k. Don’t. Even if your hubby is a mechanic - you will spend the rest of your bitter life with the car constantly fixing things. I learned this the hard way.
Yeah, that’s what I figured. I suppose all we can do is try to appeal to the guy’s better nature (snort).
My son’s mechanic is baffled that the dealer’s mechanic passed it on the inspection, I don’t know if we can use that to our advantage or not. Probably not; I’m afraid my son just spent $1500 learning what “buyer beware” means.
I’m not sure what you mean by inspection. We have required annual inspections here that focus on emissions levels and safety equipment like lights. They are not an indicator of whether the car is in good running order or not. Don’t confuse that kind of inspection (or any inspection done by the dealer) with the kind of inspection you should be getting–one by your own mechanic.
I’ve had good luck getting the inspection by my mechanic, along with price quotes for the necessary repairs, and using that to negotiate on price.
Oy. I’ve never bought a used car before, but is that how it’s supposed to work? Are you just supposed to take the word of the dealer’s mechanic?
I guess this is all your fault, but I would still go back with my son, tell the dealer that the sale was a farce and his mechanic should have his dog catcher’s license revoked. It would be instructive for your son to see that some people will in fact very knowingly and very happily rip you off and not give the slightest damn about your reaction to it. Then, when he goes to buy a house sometime in the future, he won’t accept his real estate agent’s helpful suggestion that so-and-so usually does a pretty good house inspection.
Dealer’s mechanic?
You found at dealer A. You had dealer A’s mechanic check it out?
Or did you do what I did last time?
I found a car at dealer A’s lot. I took the car to Dealer B, which is Downtown Ford in Canton, OH, a dealership with license to sell new Fords. I paid Dealer B one hour’s labor to inspect the car from dealer A’s lot.
I got a clean bill of health except for 1 of the brake pads. Dealer A replaced that brake pad, and I drove off with a nice used Ford.
Or did you use dealer A’s mechanic?
While I agree this is probably good advice, you can certainly find cars that work and keep going for well under that price. My last car was a 1991 Nissan Stanza which I bought for $800. I ran it for about 10K miles and put in less than $500 worth of work into it over that time (alternator, clutch slave cylinder) before selling it to buy a real car.
My business mileage alone covered the cost of that car.
I know anecdotes aren’t data, but in college most of my friends had sub-$2000 cars and I don’t remember any of them being particularly maintenance prone. Then there’s the case of my cousin, who buys a $4000 car and has already put in at least that much in repairs (he’s on his THIRD transmission in one year).
It’s a bit of a crap shoot, but sometimes it’s worth the risk.
As Harriet the Spry noted, there’s an inspection and then there’s an inspection. Missouri has a required annual/biannual inspection generally called a safety inspection, and it’s a virtual certainty this is what was being referred to. Most inspectors just check lights, horn, wiper, steering linkage, and front brake pads. They’re only required to look at the brakes on one wheel, and the springs may or may not have been in condition to fail. This is in no way a general mechanical inspection and would not even look at the water pump, belt, fluids, or universal joints.
If you think it passed Missouri inspection improperly, you can file a complaint with the MO Highway Patrol. But chances are even if there was a violation the inspector would get a slap on the wrist, and I wouldn’t count on the sale being overturned. I’ve never heard of this “30 day” rule, and have doubts about any legal recourse. However, I have actually heard of a used-car dealer taking back a car that needed major mechancial repair, so it can’t hurt to ask - just don’t hold your breath. Check with the Attorney General’s office to get reliable info on your rights.
In the future, don’t buy a car until you’ve had a thorough pre-purchase inspection done by a mechanic of your choice. If the seller won’t agree to let you have it checked out, don’t buy from him.
As a general rule, I assume $1000 1st year maintenance on any used car I’m buying. I just bought two of them for my kids. I targeted older high-mile vehicles (pre-2000) for cost and insurance purposes. My “$1000” rule is holding true to form.
Car number 1 - new catalytic converter, timing belt, water pump. (Will probably need some additional engine work- Catalytic converters don’t usually crash on their own)
Car number 2 - Timing belt, water pump, brake calipers, tires, seat belt, dash lights.
All things considered, its costly but it beats the hell out of new car costs and these old clunkers will get my kids through college and maybe a year or two after.
Oh, I miss my 1991 Stanza (was yours “champagne” AKA metallic beige?). It was virtually trouble free until the sad, sad day it threw its timing chain on the highway at age 13 and the engine was totalled.
I needed a car in a hurry and bought a 10-year old Mazda 626 for $1000 after a thorough inspection by a trusted independent mechanic (it needed new CV joints). I drove it for 2 years, including two 10 hour drives, put about $500 into it (the CV joints + a resonator), and resold it for $1000.
No, no, not at all. If you have personal knowledge of the car’s history and maintenance, that’s an entirely different kettle of fish. For example, I still have my cherished 1990 Civic Wagon which is probably not worth 50 cents.
Like I said, ‘advice’ - my advice is to not purchase someone else’s headache.
Possible, but somehow for me and my luck of late - it’s improbable. YMMV, of course.
In my ancient past I seemed to do a lot better - I came to Jackson in 1989 in a $300 chevy- drove it for a year and sold it for $300.
I’d just rather not fool with any more of these ‘bargain’ vehicles if I can help it. I’ve found that it works better for me to get the teen a loan and have him/her make the payments so that they can have a dependable vehicle. But that’s just me.
