I have a question. Does anyone know what your rights are. I bought a 2005 350Z from a Nissan Dealership. Had a carfax report showing no damage history.

However, I got a light hit in my rear bumper from someone. Repair seemed fine until 2 days later when what looked like a 'key scratch' showed up.

Then a couple weeks later it grew and grew and was clear their was a problem with the paint.

The body shop agreed to re-fix it, but as they dug into it they found out the car had been damaged before and the hit was deep enough that the filler never properly dried so this repair on top of it caused all the cracking of the paint.

Bottom line I have to get a new bumper or it will probably happen again. Is the dealer liable for non-disclosure. Do I have any recourse or am I just stuck.

The car was originally purchased and maintained by the dealer that sold it to me.

Thanks

 

I think you would have to prove that the dealer knew about the damage and either covered it up themselves or decided not to inform you. If the dealer took the car as a trade in or bought it at auction, they probably had no idea either. I seriously doubt dealers really check out used cars very well (even so-called certified), so they probably had no idea about prior damage.

 

You could file a claim in small court. You will have to show with a preponderance of evidence that the seller intentionally misrepresented the car. Good luck.

 

Carfax only shows incidences reported to them. If there was an accident and no insurance claim was involved, then it wouldn't have been reported.

 

never going to happen

 

You generally have to prove that they were aware of the condition and hid it from you.

A used car sale is generally an "As is" sale. And even in instances where the dealer didn't disclose knowledge of a condition, many jurisdictions put the burden on the buyer to have discovered it....particularly if the seller makes a point of stating the sale is "As is".

Where you have a leg to stand on is when you can prove that not only were they aware of the condition, they lied about it. That is fraud, and against the law.

 

They sold it to you with a clean carfax report , it had one. Since the damage was never reported and fixed most likely out of pocket by someone, they are fine.

 

They sold the car to the prior owner and took it in, in trade and said all maintenance on the vehicle was done in house. It's possible the owner didn't disclose the damage to them, but I highly doubt it. This dealership is the worst, but they are the only ones that had the car I wanted and since mine was totalled I had to get something quick.

But yeah, I figure it would be brutal trying to prove they had prior knowledge.

 

Talk to some techs there. They might remember the car.

 

As far as I know carfax will only have damages recorded if they went through an insurance company or if the damages are over a certain dollar amount. It is possible that the damages were settled without involving insurance companies, in my case I'm pulling my front bumper skin off this winter to have it resprayed and putting it back on myself, this will not be showing up in a carfax report.

 

Dealers sell used cars "as-is" I believe.

 

yeah, welcome.

 

Get out your wallet