QuestionHello Roger, on sept. 24th I went to a used dealer lot and the dealer traded me almost straight across. He took my 2009 Chevy HHR with some transmission problems and gave me a 1999 Ford Expedition with the same and then some.... I needed a larger vehicle but not that large and not that much worse than the chevy. He "helped" me out saying that with the issues the chevy had he didn't feel right letting me leave the lot in it so he would put me in the expedition for now and give me a 90 day period that I could exchange it for any reason. along with a 3 year 36000 mile drive train warranty. the written 90 day statement calls it an exchange of collateral. now within a week I was back at the lot and I have been to the lot at least twice a week since the 24th of sept. but he avoids me and ignores me and yesterday I discovered that the brake fluid line is leaking and had been repaired before I got it with some kind of black gooy substance that was no longer sealing the leak so I checked the lots hours on line went down to talk to him and he was not there so I called him. we argued and he hung up on me. then he sent two of his empoyees to "deal" with me. They informed me that he has no desire to even discuss anything with me until I pay him the $652.00 dollars I owe him for the title transfer and something listed on the sales papers as "accessories". Now I was supposed to pay him by Oct. 24th but I said I would pay him when I got something different from him and he said ok and that he would call me in a few days to let me know what cars I could choose from. that was back on Oct.27th. he has yet to call me. he wont repair the issues with the shifting or rear differential (I think that's what its called) and im at the point where I would be happy to get my chevy hhr back and just cancel the whole thing. Is that a realistic possibility and either way, where do I go from here? thank you for your time, Robyn
AnswerRobyn...wow!
Where to start...ok first off the trade was a bad one ...a 2009 HHR that needs a tranny for a 1999 Expedition with issues or with no issues is bad trade ... the Expedition on its best day with all of the right equipment and normal miles is worth 2500.00 The HHR with no transmission is worth twice that even with the PT Cruiser-esque 4 cyl engine. But that may be water under the bridge unless you act quickly and we catch a break... Here we go
1. I am assuming that you gave him the title when you did the swap? Did you get the title to the Expedition? The first thing I would do is call the DMV in your state and figur4e out how to cloud the title ..in Oregon its called flagging the title and I can do it with a phone call ...in other states like California and Nevada and Washington state they have a form you need to fill out where you claim an interest in the vehicle but the bottom line is you need to do whatever it takes to make it so you have some leverage with the title to your trade.
2. Secondly, in your agreement with this loser it appears from what you are saying that he has breached the contract ...it's not your job to chase this disgusting lump of human flesh to the corners of the earth to get him to perform on his end of the deal. Make sure if he does come up with an alternative for you that it has a book value that is higher than the expedition ...don't let him give you false choices that will only send you backwards. For instance if he says ...Okay here is a 2001 Ford Taurus for the Expedition ... NOPE! You should be able to use whatever he was asking for the Expedition retail before you traded for it (I.E. it had a sticker price of $7.995.00) and find any other car on his lot of similar value and take it home.
3. He knows the Expedition had tranny problems etc when he sold it to you which is likely why he gave you the 3 yr 36,000 drive train only warranty hoping that when the tranny goes on it that the warranty company will foot the bill instead of him ....Dealers everywhere actually sell cars with issues to people that way to slide the turd into someone else's pocket whenever they screw up and take in a bad trade or to make more money on one they took in for a song.
4. I don't know what state you are in but the title fees shouldn't be 652.00. What I am willing to bet that is because that's about the right price for the 3 yr 36000 warranty that he slid it onto your paperwork and is making you pay for it... let me know if I am right.
5. This guy is a bad dealer and you need to let him know that there are lots of people you have told about this slime ball and should you not walk away from this deal without feeling like he broke it off in you that you plan on letting the entire world know about your experiences on every used car dealer review website you can find including rip off report where it can never be taken down.
6. In my opinion your best avenue of attack to get out of this deal is to write the guy an email (certified ...try using readnotify.com and sign up for the free trial version) explaining to him that he is in breach of your contract and he has 5 days to cure the breach before you go legal on him and then if that doesn't get his attention then put your story on craigslist about this guy ...being careful to always make statements of opinion that this guy is a crook and a thief and a con man (because those terms aren't actionable in a defamation case) and write up your experience and start going to places like Yelp and google reviews etc and post it up on this guys business and then go see a consumer rights attorney and have him write this guy one of those great letters threatening legal action and be ready to follow through. You owe it to this guy to hammer him up for public ridicule because he gives us all a bad name.
ask all of the follow ups you want and I will ride this one out with you
Roger
