I don't mean to state the obvious here... but I will. I know you said you are 60 miles away - but if your car is driveable... Have you ever thought you should just drive up there and talk to someone? (Seems how they are screening your calls) What is your timetable on all of this happening? If I had bought a car from a dealer, thinking that the was clean (never in accident) and was in great shape.... then all of this happened and you found out it was wrecked. Like yes, the dealer is in serious breach of contract. But what is the timetable? Is this within months you found out this info? Or has it been 12 months or more?
I mean, it's hard to tell based on 1-side of the story (and that you are only 22 - shouldn't matter, but it may) what is really going on. Like did the dealer communicate anything to you ahead of time? Did you know it was in an accident? Did you know anything about the car other than a quick test drive? Did you get a CarFax?
I see it as two ways this can go and/or went down: (probably more options than this) One - your naive and had sucker written on your forehead (no offense) and got taken to the cleaners by a shady dealer. Like you had nothing in writing, No carfax, no anything. And now you may be stuck with this car. -OR- Two - you were provided all of this documentation on a clean car, you were buying what you thought to be a mildly used but in awesome condition used vehicle and within X amount of time (see timetable question above) the car just begins to completely breakdown and become a lemon. In scenario #2, I would say you absolutely have a case against the dealer. But if it's scenario one, I would just say it's an expensive life lesson (live and learn). Fix it and dump it. Go find something else.
I mean, not picking on you (or anyone else!) but if you can't afford a core charge on a turbo of $250 or whatever. You probably don't need to be driving a Taurus SHO. I know it's everyone's right to buy what they want and I fully believe that. But my advice is - if you can't afford to spring for the core charge on some parts. Just hold off on the SHO...wait until later in life when your financial circumstances have changed, you have more income...then go buy a nice Sports car or sports sedan. Oh well rant over.
Let my flaming begin
I understand this is a ridiculous scenario and it seems off that the dealer would do this.
I will admit, moving forward there were one or two warning signs that if i ever see in the future are deal killers. But i have purchased cars with similar signs in the past and they turned out to be fantastic.
I have been to the dealer on three separate occasions JUST to talk to them. I even met with the general manager, and discussed the issues. He was "Horrified" and said he would fix things, then the service department proceeded to not find anything wrong. I bought the car on june 25th, and as soon as my warranty kicked in i took it to a local dealer. Who then said it was wrecked and not cover-able. The last diagnosis happened in late august. i tried contacting the dealer no response. All issues found within two months.
On the accident issue, well its complicated, here is where i should have walked away. The
Car Fax said the car had been in an accident but that there was
No Structural Damage. This i figured was a minor accident. I should have walked away, but i figured it was a non issue since the car looked great.
What i have been told is that there is most certainly structural damage, ranging from damage to the intercooler, the adaptive cruise sensor, and even a bent subframe. To me this is a breach as it was clearly stated no structural damage. This damage also renders those parts void of my warranty.
The dealer, or at least their service department clearly knew the car had been extensively modified. (3bar map, DP, tune ). This information was never ventured by anyone. even after i purchased the car i had to ASK the service department to check it for a tune. Then i was told they didn't need to check they knew it was modified. as Ive said before i never would have purchased it had i known this was the case. I staunchly avoid modified cars.
I did have a car fax, I did get things in writing,
(the dealer actually lost my we owe, and the purchase guide), My mistake was not making sure i had a copy of everything. In fact to highlight the dealer in this, they actually forgot to have me sign a piece of my loan documentation, had to have me come back to do it. My bank almost revoked my loan. This is not my first rodeo, ive bought from 5 different dealerships. I checked the car fax before i even went to see the car, everything looked fine, besides the accident but as i said, it said no structural damage. I did my resarch i found KBB values, Blackbook values NADA values, competitive prices from other dealers (who were much further away ). I looked up parts costs for things like transmissions, axles and other parts that i read commonly failed. I checked the tires, i looked underneath for leaks, i opened the oil filler cap and checked for gunk, i stuck my head under the car while it was running.
As to the core charge on the turbo, I spent a bunch of cash on the down payment two months ago, Ive spent close to $500 on the car since then on things like diagnostic fees, getting the oil pressure sensor replaced, and having to drive back and forth to the dealer. Add in vacation season and the fact that without the core charge replacing the turbo would cost 750, and with a core charge $1000, its a fairly expensive repair. All in all with the Down payment, the already done repairs, and the turbo replacement id be spending close to $2400 over two and a half months I would say that its not unreasonable to become strapped at this point I also needed to have it done this week, as my father is on vacation, so no time to save. I have savings and i could get the turbo replaced, but there is a limit to how much im willing to eat into my savings, especially for a car that i just want to be rid of now.
