Virginia State law question regarding Auto Fraud

[Antilag]

Does anyone know, own, or have family that works for a Dealership in the state of Virginia? I have a serious matter at hand regarding my M3 and the dealer I purchased it from, and need to ask a few questions to someone who is familiar with the laws in Virgina regarding Auto Sales Fraud. If anyone can help out, please let me know .

-Dustin

[Antilag]

Anyone? Also, does anyone know of a good attorney in the Virginia area that has dealt with consumer fraud?

[SPEED & TECH MOTORING]

what kind of issue are we dealing here with?
I might be able to help.

[Antilag]

Originally Posted by SPEED & TECH MOTORING

what kind of issue are we dealing here with?
I might be able to help.

I purchased my M3 from a Dealership in Virginia..well known dealer, not a "fly by night" type of dealer. Used, was presented what I thought to be a clean Carfax report. Promised by the seller that the car was in pristine shape, ran well..which it did. Well I've owned the car for a couple months now and yesterday while changing my oil I noticed there was a little spot of the rear bumper that looked like it had been repainted. So, I decided to run my own carfax report...mind you I bought the car on June 6th, 2011..

The carfax showed on October 7th, 2010 the car was involved in a front and rear end collision, airbags were deployed and the vehicle was towed from the scene. I contacted my Insurance company to run the VIN through the claims database and they found out that the accident caused over $17,000 in damages.

I am livid to say the least, this was not disclosed to me at the time of purchase and had to of been on the Carfax report. I'm pretty certain the dealer had to of faked the Carfax report. Regardless, nothing was signed stating the car had damage and furthermore the vehicle was sold to me for Fair Market Value when it clearly was not worth Fair Market Value due to having that amount of damage. I am going after the dealership for Auto Sales Fraud.

-Dustin

[MDyDinanM]

Name of dealer?

If you don't want to let others know, then you can PM me

[SR71M3]

Originally Posted by mdyaman

Name of dealer?

If you don't want to let others know, then you can PM me

+1

[MDyDinanM]

Originally Posted by SR71M3

+1

apparently the OP posted this in the M3 general forum and stated that it was a local VW Dealership that had sold him the M3.

[Antilag]

Originally Posted by mdyaman

apparently the OP posted this in the M3 general forum and stated that it was a local VW Dealership that had sold him the M3.

Yes, I did. Not quite sure I should post that information if it is going to go into a legal matter though. I am new to all of this, and have never had to deal with a legal matter ever.

-Dustin

[m4mehdi]

Can you get a copy of the Carfax they provided you?
I would spend a little money on an attorney and try your case bro, this is no laughing matter and you should take it serious. Also did the insurance company give you any advice?
My friend had this happen to him but he bought it as-is so it was complicated but he didn't make any effort to get his money back, I wouldn't wait a day on this.

[DarkstarZero]

legalmatch.com - It's worked for me in the past. Just post a summary of your issue and lawyers will respond if they think they can help and list their rates. You can also view each lawyers reviews, if they have any. But almost every lawyer will give you a free hour of consultation listing your options and what they can do. I suggest talking to a few different lawyers to find the best one before agreeing to secure them as your lawyer in this case.

Also, this is why I pay for legal insurance. It's a nice piece of mind to know you have a free team of lawyers in your pocket whenever you need them. Good luck.

[Antilag]

Originally Posted by DarkstarZero

legalmatch.com - It's worked for me in the past. Just post a summary of your issue and lawyers will respond if they think they can help and list their rates. You can also view each lawyers reviews, if they have any. But almost every lawyer will give you a free hour of consultation listing your options and what they can do. I suggest talking to a few different lawyers to find the best one before agreeing to secure them as your lawyer in this case.

Also, this is why I pay for legal insurance. It's a nice piece of mind to know you have a free team of lawyers in your pocket whenever you need them. Good luck.

Posted to Legalmatch yesterday, thanks for the info . I am a little irritated, as Carfax has finally gotten back to me after investigating when exactly the information first posted to the Carfax report. The vehicle was purchased on 6/2/2011, and according to Carfax it first posted to the report on 6/20/2011..almost a full year after the accident, and 18 days after I made the purchase. I'm really not sure if I can even take this anywhere now as I am sure the dealer will deny the fact they knew about the accident even if they did since it posted 18 days after the purchase.

[exVtekGuy]

IMO, I don't think it'll be worth it to pursue legal action. It'll cost a lot more than what it's worth I would think not to mention the stress. Did you try talking to the dealer about them buying back the car for what it would be worth now if it didn't have the accident? THey will probably not give you what you paid them but you might be able to get more than if you were to sell it to carmax or whatever. If that doesn't work, I'd just sell it to carmax and take the loss. But that's just me. I hope it'll work out for you. I've had similar experience where carfax showed clean before buying a car, but after years, it showed accident. The stupid thing was, I had the car inspected at a dealer(acura) and they didn't even find it.

[MDyDinanM]

OP,

You would have to prove that the dealership knew about the damage, willingly didn't disclose it to you, when you bought it.

That would be a hard thing to prove. You'd have to find a witness or some sort of vehicle inspection documentation that shows they found damage when they processes the vehicle.

[cotmfk]

OP, that is a tough situation. This is a great example of why Carfax is worthless! There are always delays in the system. In addition, the accident has to be reported to the insurance to get to Carfax, and that doesn't always happen. Of 5 used cars I bought that I got the Carfax for, all 5 had "clean Carfax." 4 of those had accident damage (I knew of the damage before purchase... It's generally easy to tell if there's been any paint work.).

IMO, if you still have warranty on the car, I would keep driving until it's almost expired. At that time, you should have a better idea of if the car will be reliable for you. There's no need to take a huge hit on selling it months after purchase. Good luck!!

[Michaeljh2000]

There are attorneys who specialize in auto sales fraud. I had similar issue about 5 years ago in VA. I found a guy who gave me a consultation for $60 and answered all my questions. Well worth it.

[ase2dais]

you may also want to check the State of Va Consumer Protection/Affairs Office under the State Attorney Site see what they have for you at:
http://www.oag.state.va.us/Consumer%...ion/index.html

Good Luck

[Antilag]

Originally Posted by Michaeljh2000

There are attorneys who specialize in auto sales fraud. I had similar issue about 5 years ago in VA. I found a guy who gave me a consultation for $60 and answered all my questions. Well worth it.

I recently got an Attorney involved. Everything is underway, and I will keep you guys informed on how it ends up. He seems to be fairly confident in what we have.

[MDyDinanM]

Originally Posted by Antilag

I recently got an Attorney involved. Everything is underway, and I will keep you guys informed on how it ends up. He seems to be fairly confident in what we have.

kudos

keep us updated

[Antilag]

Originally Posted by mdyaman

kudos

keep us updated

Thank you, I certainly will. I'm not really "going after" the dealer per say as in trying to get extra compensation out of the deal. All I really want is for them to purchase the vehicle from me at the price I payed to purchase it from them. If I would have known it was wrecked, obviously I wouldn't have paid fair market value for the car. As I am sure the previous owner who was involved in the accident hit his Insurance company for diminished value.

[SLawrenceM4]

Hey man, I'm going through the exact same thing. Would you mind PM'ing me so I could get your advice on what to do/what you did to resolve this? I bought my M4 from Land Rover of Chantilly and they didn't disclose a near collision prior to me purchasing it.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by SLawrenceM4

Hey man, I'm going through the exact same thing. Would you mind PM'ing me so I could get your advice on what to do/what you did to resolve this? I bought my M4 from Land Rover of Chantilly and they didn't disclose a near collision prior to me purchasing it.

This thread is 9 years old, but a few things:

-If you bought the car new, the dealer does not have to disclose damage that occurred prior to delivery if it was repaired and below a certain threshold. I don't know what you mean by "Near" collision. Was the car in an accident or how are you determining this?

-I bought my first car and found this out the hard way when I discovered some overspray that was clearly not from the factory.

Cars are reguarly dinged up so this is part of standard procedure. BMW can also repair the car at the port and not disclose it. My E90 had the bumpers resprayed after euro delivery.

[SLawrenceM4]

My apologies, my car was in a "near total collision" with a guard rail, air bags deployed with front side and rear impact. I bought the car from a reputable dealer ship for market cost (if the car had not been in an accident) pre-owned. This accident was not disclosed to me at time of purchase, and now I'm finding out a year later when trying to trade it in that it's worth 15k less than I paid -- some dealerships, including BMW, won't even take it due to the airbags being deployed.

I'm wondering if this constitutes auto-fraud or if I should be entitled to some sort of compensation, since the accident wasn't disclosed and the car they sold me is worth significantly less than I paid for it.