Used cars are all sold with an odometer reading higher than zero, some wear and tear on the exterior and under the hood, and most car buyers are aware that they aren’t purchasing a brand new vehicle.
The dealership doesn’t have to tell you if the car has been in a very small accident that did no real damage, but they do have an affirmative duty to tell you certain “material facts” about the vehicle, regardless of whether or not you ask for them.
These “material facts” include disclosing if the car was a lemon-law buyback, prior rental car, has a salvage title, or was in a major accident that required work such as suspension or frame damage.
Failing to disclose material facts about the vehicle is illegal, and you can sue the dealership for selling you a bad car.
Most dealerships can make a car look great from the outside, but that doesn’t always tell the full story. Many of these material facts are so important for the dealership to disclose simply because the car buyer could not have any way of knowing the extent of the problem based on the way the car looks.
If a car was in a huge accident, and the hood is still buckled, then it’s obvious that the car was in a wreck. If the car was in a huge accident, the frame was damaged, but the dealer fixed up the body and gave it a new paint job — then it’s not obvious the car was in a wreck.
A car with major damage isn’t worth as much, and by failing to disclose material facts, the dealership can charge more than the car is worth to unsuspecting customers.
Just because you signed a contract and the ink has dried, doesn’t mean that you don’t still have rights. If our auto fraud attorneys can prove that the dealership knew about these material facts, and did not properly disclose them to you during the time of the purchase, you may want to sue them.
In most cases, our clients look to have the dealership take the car back in exchange for any money they’ve put as a down payment or into the vehicle — essentially undoing the deal.
Can a Lawyer Help Me If a Dealer Misrepresented My Car?
Quick Answer: Yes. A consumer protection lawyer can help you rescind the sale, recover your down payment, cancel the loan, and pursue damages if a dealer misrepresented a car’s condition, history, or title status.
Concealing material facts like prior accidents, frame damage, a salvage title, or prior rental or fleet use isn’t just bad business — it can be pursued as fraud under California law, and in many cases as a separate violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA). Depending on the facts of your case, remedies can include rescinding the sale, actual damages, and in especially bad cases, punitive damages.
California’s consumer protection laws also include fee-shifting provisions, meaning a court can require the dealership to pay attorney’s fees as part of a successful case. That’s a separate recovery from the dealership – it doesn’t change our contingency fee agreement with you, which is based on a percentage of what we recover on your behalf. Our firm handles these cases on a contingency basis, and a free case review is the best first step to understand what a case against the dealership could look like, including what it would cost to get started.
How to Find out If You Have Been Scammed
If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that you already have an idea that the car you bought has some sort of undisclosed damage or problem.
Some consumers discover the damage from a Carfax report, or their local mechanic noticed the problem when you took it in for simple service. Perhaps the check engine light came on, notifying you that something under the hood isn’t functioning properly, but you aren’t sure what it is.
Our office will gladly run your VIN number through the system to see if we can identify any major problems. Not every accident gets reported to the DMV though, and in some cases you may need to get a written statement from an auto body shop to prove that there is damage that you couldn’t have known about.
The first thing you should do is call our office for a free case review. We will go through the standard “material facts” with you to see if the dealership did in fact sell you a bad car without telling you.
Many times, a consumer will call about one potential problem, and our firm will find several other violations that we can take legal action with as well. Our job is to assess your case, and research the situation to strengthen your case against the dealership, which results in the best outcome in a potential lawsuit.
Do Not Wait for Your Free Case Review
Time is often of the essence in auto fraud cases, and we urge you to call us immediately if you think that you may have been lied to or were sold a bad car at the dealership. We will do everything that we can to determine if you have a case against the dealer, find out how strong the case is, and if you should file a lawsuit right away.
We offer free case reviews, and our fee structure is built around what we recover for you — we’ll walk you through exactly what that looks like before you commit to anything.
Reviewed by:
Chuck Panzarella is the founder and Managing Attorney of Consumer Action Law Group, with offices in California and Arizona. He oversees the firm’s Lemon Law and Auto Fraud practice, ensuring every case moves forward and every client is taken care of — especially through the critical settlement phase.
