Bought a car from private seller & have the original ad of them stating the engine was in excellent condition?

[eoforwic]

Alright bought a used car that was advertised as being in "excellent" mechanical condition with no problems. Which were his words, I also have numerous texts of our correspondence and him saying there were NO problems with the car. Well I went to pick it up and went straight to the mechanic, the mechanic calls me the next day and tells me the compression in 2 of the 6 cylinders is 25 psi when it should be 170. Basically needs a complete rebuild or new engine. I texted the seller and let him know right away and he said he would give me money back and that he didnt know...(yeah right) now after talking to some friends who have a legal background they told me to give the seller the opportunity to make things right since the court wants to see the seller had a chance to right it. 2 weeks pass and he gave me endless excuses and finally told me "well you bought it your problem now not mine" I filed a small claims case the next day...I've talked to friends and did some research and I feel I stand a decent chance in court with the messages and original ad of him stating the cars "excellent" mechanical condition not needing anything. Was wondering if I really do stand a chance or did I just waste the 100$ filing fee?

[emmanuil54]

There's really no way he would know 2 cylinders were bad in that engine, I take it, it started OK and you could have drove it hard to see what it'll do when you took it to your mechanical friend
Private sales are normally sold as seen, no warranty of any kind, what you see is what you get, Now if it were a car sales place then you could do something about it

[clem84]

I'm not an attorney, but it may depend on the laws of your state and whether or not there were any disclosures on the transfer of title of vehicle. What happened when you transferred the title? You must have had the actual person whose name was on title at notary in order to make it official. So, did the person whose name appeared on title say to you, if anything?

Who did you sue, the person that wrote the ad or the person whose name is on the title. You simply stated "which wasn't even in his name," but you never stated if he was a spouse or other family member. At any rate, I think you have a fair case in small claims, given that not only does the ad state this in writing, but you have emails linking the seller confirming this (although specific statements are important and we do not know what you specifically asked or he specifically replied in those emails). Now, one of the things you didn't focus upon may actually be a big deal... after the sale the seller stated that "he would give you the money back." Although he also satest that he didn't know, the fact that you receive a text reply from his phone stating that he would return your money I think can be very instrumental in getting your money back in small claims or at least winning the value of the repair."

Next, you should have the full written opinion from the mechanic, otherwise what the mechanic said to you could be disputed. Seller may claim that you're lieing or it's not as bad as you claim. That said, you should bring a full and detailed copy of the repair bill from at least two mechanics (i.e., maybe this mechanic is your friend or maybe the mechanic is wrong). Having two opinion helps validate that there is a serious issue and specifies the cost of fixing the low compression problem. One mechanic may recommend a junkyard engine as a replacement and another may recommend a rebuild.

All of the above said, if it were me, I'd focus on the advertisement (exhibit "A"), the emails (exhibit "B"), and then the verbal conversations (verbal warranty that there were no issues), and then advise judge why the compression issue is a problem (you need to correlate the low compression in those cylinders to specific problems such as poor performance, poor gas mileage, etc.). Then move into (exhibit "C") the repair estimates that also provide an explanation of the problem (i.e., it occurred over time and was not something you just did), and then (exhibit "D") present a copy of your phone bill showing that he texted you back from his phone # (and you did fake the text) and show him contents of text telling you that he would give you your money back (an apparent admission of guilt and a verbal promise/contract to refund you your money).

*******FOLLOW UP*******
Still not clear on relationship of guy that was texting you vs. owner of car that appeared on title. Who did you give money for vehicle, the guy or person on title? Did you even meet the person on title? Who did you file lawsuit against (person who texted you, person on title, or both)? While I agree with another responder that these sales by average car owners (i.e., people who are not professional car salesman and are not professional mechanics) are assumed AS/IS, it does not give someone the right to deliberately misrepresent something. First, make sure you are sueing the right person, next, remember that when you get to court that the other parties will likely claim that the car ran "fine" and since they are not experts on cars (i.e., mechanics), they told you to the best of their knowledge... they might even blame the cylinder issue on you (i.e., it was okay when she drove away, but now all-of-the-sudden there's a problem). Be prepared for each scenario so that you have a prepared response.

Again, you have a lot of issues here, private party sales are usually as/is, people selling cars are typically not experts and are unlikely to be held to the standards of an expert in court, the person you talked to and texted is apparently a different person than the title holder, and there is a good chance that their version of the truth when the defendant(s) get to court will be a different version than the one you recall.

Two very important things I noted in your story... (i) specific disclosure from seller about condition of engine that apparently turned out to be wrong or a lie and (ii) text message from seller offering to return money (this not only appears to be a tacit admission of guilt and a verbal contract, but directly ties person making statement to sale of vehcle since owner is apparently someone else on title.

[toryn34]

It all depends if the bill of sale says "as is". If it does, you will lose. He may have sold it not knowing it was like that. It's possible.

When he offered to take it back, you should have done that (friends gave bad advise there, lots of cars out there, you could have just found another one and not go thru all this), the courts may see that as your opportunity to get out of the deal but didn't.

Otherwise, the lesson here is to take it to the mechanic BEFORE you buy it not after. If they will not let you, walk away.

[albanwr26]

If you purchased the car from a private seller, without taking it to a mechanic first, your recourse may be limited. "Let The Buyer Beware" is the rule of thumb.
Had you asked the seller if you could have your mechanic check it out, and he refused, then you might have had an inkling that he was hiding something.
Did you drive the car before you bought it?
If YOU didn't notice a problem with the engine performance during a test drive, the chances are that the seller didn't either.