A licensed dealer can't sell a vehicle that won't pass emissions inspection (if required in the county the car is sold in) without making it known to a prospective buyer.

Person to person / private sales are " as is " sales unless stated otherwise in writing. Buyer beware, buyer responsible for ensuring vehicle is up to their standards.

If you're talking about undisclosed purposefully hidden or disguised major safety items, ( steering, brakes, major suspension, wheel attachment etc...) something that makes the vehicle unsafe to operate on public roadways.
You can have / might have recourse, if you can prove or have reasonable evidence the failure points were purposefully hidden or disguised by the seller.

Buy a used car from a private party, trans goes out or engine throws rods through the block on the way home = your problem.

An add stating " runs & drives great " or something like " never a single problem, great condition " or " I'd trust this car for my daughter to drive anywhere any distance " is a non professional opinion of the vehicles condition while in their possession.
It is not an implied warranty/guarantee.

Your best case scenario is to prove you were a victim of fraud. If you can prove the prior owner had knowledge of/covered up the defects you might have a decent case that will probably end up costing you more than $4200.00 to win.

I think it will end up being a lesson learned situation.

Why didn't you take the car directly back 30 seconds after you took it? Had you, I think you had an out but 3-4 days later I'd say it was a bad luck situation. Something tells me we don't have the entire story though....




^^^^This

You would have to prove that he knew about the problems, which would be extremely difficult to do in this case. You inspected the car, test drove it, etc., and didn't find the problems. He could very easily say he didn't know there was anything wrong with car and it would be your burden to prove otherwise. Once you do that, you would then need to prove that he deceived you about the condition of the car, which would also be difficult without anything in writing. I would not pursue this.

I had an aunt and uncle buy a car from another of my aunts and uncles (my dad’s two sisters and their husbands were making the transaction) to give to my cousin. As soon as they back out of the driveway, the transmission dropped out. All sales are final, and this is why I’m afraid of buying a vehicle from a private seller, plus I’m not mechanically inclined, so it’s not like I can pop the hood and know what might look wrong or sounds off.

Good luck, but I agree with those above that buyer beware.

I'm going to play 'Devils advocate' on this one. All used cars are sold As-is, unless otherwise specified, however, if certain claims are mad, such as "runs and drives great", you may have a case. It would have to be in writing or on a text . Definitely worth taking to court. Good luck.

First off I think you are as you thought SOL. Second why in the world would you spend money to get it fixed then try to get money from the seller? It must have "run and drive great" otherwise why did you buy it? Example. A light works great. You turn it on then you turn it off. Works great. Then you try to turn it on and it burns out. The person you bought it from said it runs great. It did when you bought it. You broke it and now you want him to pay for fixing it. Good luck with that.

It's JMO but if you take it to court I suspect his lawyer is going to say two words...."Caveat Emptor". Next thing you'll hear is "case dismissed".

Yeah - Bill Lumburg

So you spent $4200 and got it running okay now? Or is that just a quote on what it will take to fix it? Mind if I ask what the problems with the vehicle are?

Without reading all the responses, you have no case.

I read them all and you're right.

But you can go beat their arse with a bat

Bad advice. He screwed up. Take like a man. Learned your lesson. You will remember the lesson for many years.

You cheat me intentionally and I will keep coming after you and teach YOU the lesson.

Buyer beware...

I agree. Good chance the seller knew what headache they were unassing