Overhaulin'

A Dealer's fraudulant coverup to safety and sell me a car HELP!?

A Dealer's fraudulant coverup to safety and sell me a car HELP!? I bought a BMW from a European Car dealership late June 2008, 36 day dealership warranty, unlimited km's powertrain "engine and gearbox" warranty. 1st day we saw the car the Check engine light, ABS and Traction control lights were all on and a check coolant level message. Dealer told me not to worry the car just came in and will be repaired and Certified all before delivery... naturally none of this was written down, all was said and done verbally. A week later I go to pick the car up. All seemed in order, sales rep said there was some issues they had to address for safety and that all is in order now. So our lovely "coolish" summer passes and winter comes around months later and the car seems to not all be in good order, ABS is not funtioning at all, traction control does not work, was extremely difficult to just keep the car on the road in snowy conditions, until i added 300lbs of sandbags in the trunk. Then I started experiencing some engine performance problems, whining noises in the transmission, grinding noises in the differential, oh and did I mention I had to do repairs on the front suspension as well as the rear susspension that broke 3 months after I bought the car, had to get new springs struts etc... front steering control arms and steering support arms... So all this now suspecting problems with the engine, gearbox and differential, I took the car for a BMW scan and dealership said my check engine light at minimum shhould be on as there were over 10 engine fault codes and the light wasn't on so had to be defective, I took the car home with my new found information, and recalled that I had seen the check engine light on when I bought the car as well as the ABS and ASC light... I took the instrument cluster out and opened it up to expect to see some blown light bulbs, but to my horror discovered that the light had been covered up from the inside with black electrical tape, not enabling me to see any faults with the car that were obviously there... I removed 2 of the 3 peices of tape, re-installed the cluster and the light were on showing that there are issues with the car and that they very likely have never been repaired and merely hidden to get the car through safety and to be able to sell it... I then paid another dealer again to do the same inspection to remove the last peice of tape so that I could have a written report of the cover up... this was after I realised the possible implications of what was going on, in hind sight I should have gotten them to inspect it straight away after finding the the initial problems... and then they would have discovered the horror first hand... So to sum up, 6 months after buying a $8000 car I have a car that has several engine problems, susspension problems, braking problems in inoperative ABS and Traction control. Defects with the exhaust system, possibly also the transmission and differential... is this execptable, how do I resolve this with the dealer that pretty much is just denying any knowledge of the pre-existing conditions and warning light cover up... and staying put on the fact that the car is past it's 36 day dealership warrenty... I feel that this car was a deliberate fraudulant sale and am now stuck with a car that coninsedently broke down in the middle of an intersection today wouldn't go into any gears... so I don't even know what is wrong with it yet, mechanic is just starting initial diagnosis ... again...... does the lemon law or any other law protect me for this? With all these faults I'm looking at $12000 + worth of repairs, I would never have bought the car if those lights were still on the day we signed the papers... Also after signing the dealer said oh by the way, the warranty doesn't cover any gaskets or seals and wrote on the bill of sale sold as seen, without discussing this fact with me... The 2 things that got me into looking at the car to begin with was the fact that the add said that the car is in Excellent condition and that the buyer would be doing so in confidence as the dealer is a UCDA member... but my experience thus far has left me sleepless and emotionally distraught, I don't even know what to think or what to do, I have so many emotions of utter anger, dibelief, sadness, that I am sick to my stomach, since last thursday when I found the lights covered up, and now today the physical 2nd breakdown... HELP PLEASE any one with advise or legal advice? I bought this car in Toronto Ontario Canada

Public Comments

1. 1. You should do a complete check on this dealerships past car sales through your local department of motor vehicles or attorney generals office what whatever you have in Canada that has this type of information on businesses. 2. You will need to "prove" that they did this and in this case it would not be that hard since they certified the car. 3. Keep all of your paperwork for proof. 4. Call them and tell them that you want your money back. 5. If they wont work with you then you should sue them in small claims or hire an attorney. 6. This would be a simple open and shut case against this dealership and I would bet that they would work with you.
2. Well, the first thing is that you have hopefully learned a lesson from this and that is to do your research on the dealership thoroughly before you purchase. I am sorry to hear that you lost on your investment with this dealership. These kinds of things do happen quite often. They are scams, and if a person or organization is found guilty of a scam they can be sued and possibly jailed. It is illegal to sell or present a vehicle to the buyer and it is not in the condition that they say it is. Now in terms of what you can do, you can do one of two things. The first thing you can do, is talk directly to the management or owner of that particular branch of that company. You could state your case to them and see if they will grant you any lee-way. Sometimes the owner of that company will see to it that the person that sold you the vehicle is fired, and they will do their best to make sure you are re-paid for the damages caused. The second thing you could do is sue for damages. You have a right to sue, but make sure you have enough evidence. I would advise you not to sue if you cannot prove what you say, otherwise it is a waste of your time and the judges time. So weigh your options and see which route you want to take. Also before you sue, you might look into getting a lawyer. That way you can have some way to back up your claims.
3. whew I have never heard of something like this. You need to gather your facts what was said and who said it put your bulldog suit on and go to an attorney who specializes in consumer fraud. Have a meeting with the owner of this dealership. if that doesn't work go to your government agencies. Do not let up until this guy is shut down and hopefully in prison. if he just takes care of you the next guy will still be screwed
4. ou can prevail. but yuou need to get a good lawyer