Dear Tom and Ray: When my daughter car-shopped two years ago, I advised her to buy a manufacturer’s certified used car. She bought a 2003 Toyota RAV4 from a Toyota dealer.
She is getting married in three weeks and wants to sell the car. I took it to CarMax for appraisal and possible sale. I was told there are indications the car was in an accident. My daughter didn’t have an accident, so I took the car to the Toyota dealer from two years ago. A manager insisted it had never had an accident. A senior buyer back at CarMax emphatically declared it had indeed been in an accident.
A separate Toyota dealer then said it had had an accident. Should I sue the first dealer, talk to Toyota USA or just forget the matter?
– Father of the Bride
Tom: After the wedding, talk with your daughter. If she did crack up the car, this would be the time to say so (before you raise your hand before a judge). Still, let’s assume the accident came before.
Ray: You could sue the dealer, and you would probably win. Still, it’s a real pain. So keep that as a last resort. Give Toyota a chance to make this right by calling 800-331-4331.
Tom: Tell them you’ve hit a brick wall with your dealer and would like a factory rep from Toyota to inspect the car.
Ray: Meanwhile, ask for written appraisals of the accident damage from CarMax and the second Toyota dealer. Also ask for their estimates of what the car is worth now, with the accident damage, and what it would have been worth without the accident.
Tom: If the Toyota rep agrees there was an accident, he or she will want to make sure it wasn’t your daughter who had it. So make sure you go through the car and remove any receipts in the glove box from Frank’s Auto Body.
Ray: But if they agree that there has been damage, and they have no reason to believe that you caused it, the only conclusion is that the dealer is a sleazeball. In that case, you can ask Toyota to buy back the vehicle from you at the price it would have sold for had it not had damage.
Tom: If Toyota stonewalls you, you still have options. One is to take the written appraisals you got from the two other parties back to the dealer, present the facts to the manager and offer a choice: He can either buy the car back at a fair price, or you’re going to use this evidence to take him to court for fraud.
Ray: If he refuses to make a fair deal, that’s what you’ll have to do. Contact your bar association, and ask for the name of a lawyer who specializes in this kind of issue.
Tom: Then sue for the lost value of the car and your legal fees.
Ray: “Toyota Certified” (or any manufacturer certified) or not, you must get a used-car checked out by your own mechanic before buying it.
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