Overhaulin'

Dealers responsibility to inspect vehicles before trade in, do they need to? Can we be held liable for mods?

Ok here is the story I had a heavy modified vehicle and I returned it to stock except for the injectors and reflash. SO I decided to trade it in for something else. Its been two months and they called me stating that they sold the behicle and the kid who purchased it took it to the another dealer ship and had it inspected. they found the injectors and reflash. so now they call me and demand the injectors stating something about the clean air act. and how its my responsibility. is this true? even if the cotract states its the dealerships car when I signed it over to them? any help would be great. BTW I live in California

Public Comments

1. if its an EPA thing you may me screwed., sit tight, tell them you sold them the car as is. but be prepared to hand the stuff over if it get ugly. i would wait a couple months...
2. Depends on your state. Usually it is the dealers responsibility, and some states have a 30 day lemon law. When you, as an individual, sell a vehicle, it is as is, unless there is a written contract stating otherwise. So, unless your state has really wacked laws, you have no responsibility.
3. My opinion, and it is my opinion only, that it is now the dealer's deal and the dealer should deal with it. But, what do I know. Once they have title to the car why would you still have to make repairs to it? If they accepted the vehicle as it was then now it is between them and the new buyer. If the dealer overlooked whatever it was they overlooked at the time they took possession of the vehicle whose fault is that? What will they come back to you for next? Where does it stop? Do you see how illogical this is?
4. Tell them "What? I ain't got a clue what you are talking about!" It was YOUR car, THEY bought it. Unless you gave them a warranty, you owe them nothing.
5. the dealer who took your car is the one who screwed up. when they took the car, if they knew it would have to pass a smog test to be sold again, they should have done the smog test. It is important to note that if they asked you if the vehicle was still stock and you said yes, then you are actually at fault because you lied. Don't they have questionnaires for this sort of thing ?
6. YOU ARE NOT LIABLE.....My friend bought a used car from a dealership and got pulled over and received a ticket for the tinted windows being too dark. He called the dealership and told them that the car was sold with ILLEGAL tinting. They just said, too bad, because he bought the car AS-IS. And there was nothing that he could really do about it anyway, he paid the ticket and paid for lighter window tinting. It's the dealerships job to check the car before taking it. They are crazy to go after you, if it turns nasty, talk to a lawyer as people like stealing/cheating these days.