Q: I bought a used car the guy assured me there was nothing major was wrong
he assured me Nothing major was wrong with the vehicle. I had no one to check the car out for me I'm single mother of two young children, saved up because I needed a car and 1 months later the transmission is out I believe he knew the transmission was going out and did not tell me is there anything I can do?
A:
Very sorry to hear about your situation. Buying used cars is difficult particularly if you are not mechanically inclined and cannot detect defects on your own. But lets talk about what you can do now. If you bought this from a dealer, you probably got a very limited EXPRESS warranty (meaning stated). Most dealers limit the warranty to 30 days or maybe if you were lucky, 90 days. If so, you have a warranty problem and need to take it back to the dealer to fix it.
But you never mentioned a dealer, so I assume that you bought the care from Joe Blow on the corner. Unfortunately, you have very little protection because Joe is not a retail operation.
You can sue him to cover the cost of repairing the transmission if you can show that he knew it was going bad, but the question then becomes one of proof and where you are going to get it. First, what did he tell you about the condition of the car? Next, what does the mechanic tell you is wrong with the car and how obvious was the problem? Finally, did Joe sell it to you "as is" ? Because if you bought it as-is then you don't get any kind of protection, like no implied warranties, and you are stuck with what you got.
In buying a used car, you always need to make a thorough inspection of all the working parts of the car. I got caught myself because I did not take a CD and the player did not work, but I did not find out during the warranty period. And I know better. So do not be too hard on yourself. If you don't know much about car mechanics, take someone with you who does know, or take it to a mechanic to have a check over, but that will be at your expense.
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