Q: Can I take Hyundai America to small claims court and succeed?
Bought a 2016 Hyundai Sonata used in Oct. 22. It was well maintained (checked with CarFax) and had 85,000 miles on it. I'm the third owner. Found out this model and year has a couple of major known flaws. The most serious one is that it burns significant amounts of oil which eventually lead to engine falure. Hyundai cars have a 100,000 mile, 10 year warranty but says it applies only if your are the original owner. The engine design flaw and problem is well documented by many owners online as well as my mechanic, an ex-employee of Hyundai. Hyundai has rebuilt or replaced owners' engines in some cases, but only if they are the original owner. They don't always do this and in any case make it difficult to get it done. Under both the California Lemon Law and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (MMWA), do I have any recourse? The car is worth maybe $10,000. Can I take them to small claims court and what are my chances? Thanks in advance for any insights. John
A:
John, I am sorry to tell you this.
You can sue Hyundai in small claims or wherever, but you have no case. Briefly, here are the reasons.
First, they did not sell you the car, thus they did not misrepresent anything to you. Secondly, all the things you are complaining about should have been discovered before you bought it. You just didn't do your homework.
A:
You would benefit from a consultation with an auto fraud attorney. There are many missing details in your post that make it difficult to analyze your situation and on the surface, without more details, it does not appear you have a case against Hyundai.
Did you buy the vehicle from a Hyundai dealership?
Did the purchase come with a warranty?
Are you actually having issues with your vehicle? If so, is the warranty being honored or is it passed the warranty timeframe?
etc.
Leon Bayer agrees with this answer
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