March 25, 2007

Hi Tony

We live in Florida and just purchased a used 2006 pick-up truck one week ago. We noticed after driving it for a day it would make a noise from the back when taking off after a complete stop.

We bought a service agreement upon buying it so we took it right back two days later and they said they fixed the problem and it was covered under warranty.

Well, upon washing it today my husband found that under the bed liner the bed had a little buckle in it so it appeared it has been wrecked from behind at one point. We did a Carfax and no accidents had been reported on it.

Do we have any legal rights to question the car dealer on this?

Karen

Answer:

Hi Karen,

The first thing you should do is have the pick-up truck inspected by an independent, professional paint and body shop. Ask them to try to determine if the truck was in fact in a wreck and what repairs may have been made. You need to do this first so you know what you're talking about.

Carfax won't have a record if a wreck wasn't reported to the police or to an insurance company. If the truck was damaged it is possible the car dealer wasn't aware of it, especially if the buckle in the bed was covered by a bed liner.

Now, if the dealer installed the bed liner then I'd get a little suspicious. In any event, if in fact the truck had been damaged talk to the Sales Manager or the General Manager at the dealership about it, and tell them what you want them to do about it.

I'm not familiar with the laws in Florida pertaining to this, but I would guess that the only time a dealer has to disclose a previous wreck is if they in fact knew about it. It's probably a very gray area.

All my very best...

Tony Iorio