Going to court

[smokinn]

Ive decided to take the guy to court that sold me my truck. If you have been following the threads ive posted then you know what im talking about. I did get the truck back yesterday and the total bill was 2531.29. For engine, front end work and total brake job all the way around. Im sueing him for 2090.26. The guy that worked on the truck will also be coming to court with me. The guy that i bought it from said he drove it back and forth to work every day for 2 years. Theres noway he did that with what was wrong with the truck. I had only things fixed that would make it safe to drive nothing else was fixed. Theres still alot of small things to do to it but nothing I cant take care of myself. The reason im so pissed off is this guy sold a truck that he said had a new create motor and all it needed was a battery. I feel he grossly misrepasented the truck and was not honest. I did drive the truck before I bought it but the day I did there was snow and ice on the roads so it was hard to tell if it had any front end problems. I drove this truck from his house to mine and called the shop the next day. That was Dec 11th and its been there since till yesterday. Any ideas what to expect or what I could do to perpare?

Jason

[lolife99]

Not to be an A** or anything. But it sounds like you should have done your homework first. Like taking it to a mechanic before you bought it. You could buy a "used" 2005 vehicle and still have problems with it. I think it's a GOOD lesson learned. Not a law suite. I guess I just have a hard spot with all the law suites in this world. Again,... I don't know the whole story,... but like on EBAY,... BUYER beware. My two cents.

[piecesparts]

Before you go to all of the lengths involved, take a close look at your bill of sale, for anything that might say "As is" or to that effect. That will save him immediately in court. I agree with getting the truck checked out and that is on you for that part, but he may have misrepresented himself, also. It will be up to you to prove all of this, because he will most undoubtedly claim that you were allowed the opportunity to see what was there. It is your dime and your time, but the trip to court may be a 50/50 deal and you will be out of the court cost also. If your truck is now what you want drive by his house some time and rev the engine, but keep on going. I am somewhat a pessimist and I try to get second opinions on things like this before I go into it blindly. Buyer Beware--That may get me yelled at again...

[smokinn]

Yeah but Im willing to take my chance in court. As is or if I had the chance to take it to have it looked at. This truck should of NOWAY been sold as a great running truck and all it needed was a battery. It should of been sold as a parts tuck and thats it. I dont care if you have a truck checked out. I bought a 82 that I had "checked" out by a shop just to drive it 60 mins to my house and end up with a motor that went bad. With this truck were talking about 1000.00 worth of engine work that needed to be done along with ball joints that were ready to fall off. Even the left back brake line was disconnected and had a bolt pulged into the line. That same brake was compleatly rusted from not being used. also the gear box was so bad it was ready to fall off. I cuold keep going on but you get the idea.

[hotrodhomi]

buyer beware. I would file this one as lesson learned

[71swb4x4]

Have you talked to the guy you bought the truck from? Maybe he is willing to work with you before it goes to court.

[OJOE]

"a bought lesson is the best kind" the seller did not do the right thing, but you should always check out anything that is used. some people will tell you anything to sell, as you already know. so ckeck it out yourself or get someone else to. lesson paid in full.

"OR" you could do like we do in the south, just go over to his house, pull him out of the house and tear his face off, ha ha

[smokinn]

I talked to the guy when i first found out what the truck needed. He even called and talked to the shop guy. i did tell him that I expect him to pay for all repairs and he really didnt say anything. I dont give a CRAP about lesson learned. How about I sell off a POS to some poor bastard and laugh while he drives out the driveway and has to put 2500.00 worth of repairs into it. I would not care as much if I had the truck a few months and smoething happened but I had it less then 24 hours. Im sorry but there is a law here that he violated but not disclosing problems he knew about. Here we have 3 days to cancell a contract on a used car or truck. I called him the next day and offered him some choices. None that he really wanted to talk about.

[FUNMUDDER]

I agree with everyone else. Granted, your POed because you bought something that was in worse shape than you thought it was and had to pay a lot of money to fix it up. Everyone has felt that way once in their life. As the old saying goes, "dont get mad, get even".

Sorry your truck wasn't as good as you thought.

[lolife99]

Is this the '79 swb 4x4 that you gave a $1000.00 for? I took this quote from one of your old posts,... "Ok when do you say enough is enough with these trucks. Ive had quit a few of these trucks over the years and my newest one is a 79 SB 4x4. Bidy wise its in excellent shape just needs paint. Well I paid 1000.00 for it 2 weeks ago. Now it needs the front end compleatly rebuilt going to cost 1200.00. The engine is going to cost another 500.00. When do you just give up and move on? I could take my 1700.00 and add it to what I have and buy something alittle better then this one. Or keep it and have it painted down the road. I know this isnt a cheap hobby but so far im going to have 1700.00 into something I havent even drove yet. Anyone want a 79 SB 4x4 for a grand?"

[ilg14]

I know little legally about an issue such as this, but if there is no bill of sale that a judge can examine the words on, you have nothing. You can say what you want about what was "guaranteed" in person, but that means nothing. The judge can't award you a victory in the case without hard proof that you were deliberately mislead. It's your burden.

[f.monroe]

Originally Posted by smokinn

I talked to the guy when i first found out what the truck needed. He even called and talked to the shop guy. i did tell him that I expect him to pay for all repairs and he really didnt say anything. I dont give a CRAP about lesson learned. How about I sell off a POS to some poor bastard and laugh while he drives out the driveway and has to put 2500.00 worth of repairs into it. I would not care as much if I had the truck a few months and smoething happened but I had it less then 24 hours. Im sorry but there is a law here that he violated but not disclosing problems he knew about. Here we have 3 days to cancell a contract on a used car or truck. I called him the next day and offered him some choices. None that he really wanted to talk about.

You say that you had it 24 hours . He said it was a driver . I do not know the whole story but it may have been able to drive for a couple months . One problem is that you had to have it repaired at a shop . No offense to shop owners but some shops charge way too much and will over sell repairs . Kind of like a doctors bill where you are charged for the aspirin , and the plate they were delivered on and told you really needed it . One thing I know is that there are too many lawsuits . If you cant resolve it with him then that may be what you feel you have to do . In general , if I buy a used vehicle , I expect the worse and check it out as best I can . Sorry to hear that you spent soo much on repairs but I hope you are happy with what you have . I would like to see a loser pays law passed on court cases though . It would cut down on court cases if the loser had to pay for his lawyer and the other persons lawyer if they lost their case . It would also encourage people to settle if they really did misrepresent a good or item . Frank

[71swb4x4]

Did you really only pay $1,000 for it?

[BIGCHEVYMAN]

in my state the so called lemon law dose not apply to a vehicle with a value of $2500 of less.

sorry your truck was not what you wanted. sounds like a little buyer remorse.

i'm not defending the guy you bought the truck from, but its a $1000 truck what did you expect.

I have done several inspections for pepole who are considering buying a vehicle. if you had another vehicle inspected before this one and the motor crapped out. sounds like you have a mechanic that is incompetent and may be taking you for a ride.

[piecesparts]

You say you have 3 days to cancel a contract in your state. You killed that off when the repair shop started to put new parts on the truck. If after 24 hours, you had found all of these or at least some of the problems and called the guy right there and cancelled your deal, then you would have a process that might have worked for you. The fact that you didn't pursue this then, the Judge will most probably hear your story and thank you for entertaining him for the hour and then give you fond farewell. Sorry for that one---Things like a bad brake setup with a plug in it's line and front end issues become a real safety issue and you could have held the seller to that as having an intent to defraud. Now; I'm afraid you have the truck and the guy has his money and the shop has it's bill to be paid, not to mention court costs.

[us111]

really sorry to hear the truck needed work but unfortunately it's just not like the old days when you could pretty much alway's trust what someone said.
i'm certainly not a lawyer but i really think you will end up with the ole "buyer beware".

[smokinn]

Yes I did pay 1,000 bucks for the truck but thats besides the point. I dont care if someone pays 500 or 25,000 for a truck. If its sold and stated as NEW create motor and all it needs is a battery then thats what I excpect. Not to have to turn around and pay 2500.00 in repairs. As for the repairs I didnt have anything done to it before I called the guy. I just had them look at it and give me a quote from there. Sorry but im taking my chances in court. Theres ALOT more to this then whats been written and I dont care to go into detail on this up coming case. Lets just say I have some very good proof on my side that I have since found out that makes him liable.

[71swb4x4]

I am not going to say he is or isn't liable, but there is no way you are getting more than $1,000 out of it in any court. The judge will think you're crazy if you really ask for more than $1,000. Before you take this to court take a few days to cool off, and then put together your case.

[smokinn]

Im sueing for the repairs and if I get my grand back then thats what i get. At least its something.

[71swb4x4]

I hope you do get it back, keep us updated.

Do you make it to the Pick-N-Pulls very often? My in-laws just moved away from Omaha last summer. While they lived there we would hit the Pick-N-Pulls at lease every other month. In the summer things were usually picked over pretty good but we always found a ton of stuff in the winter.

[smokinn]

I havent made it out to them this winter yet. Ive been so busy working 12 hour days then I watch my 4 month old girl while my wife works nights. And I didnt have a reason till now to go looking. I will keep everyone updated on what happens. If I win or not at least maybe it will send a message to this guy.

[BIGCHEVYMAN]

You should have never done any work to the truck. So going on your thought then we should beable to go out and buy a $1000 dollar truck and put $2500 in it and make all the repairs it need and go back and sue the seller. So now you have a $3500 for a $1000.00. This a prime example why you should always!!!! Get the vehicle check out.

[FUNMUDDER]

Originally Posted by BIGCHEVYMAN

sorry your truck was not what you wanted. sounds like a little buyer remorse.

i'm not defending the guy you bought the truck from, but its a $1000 truck what did you expect.

I have done several inspections for pepole who are considering buying a vehicle. if you had another vehicle inspected before this one and the motor crapped out. sounds like you have a mechanic that is incompetent and may be taking you for a ride.

He has a good point. You don't get much for a grand anymore. To me, a thousand dollars for a vehicle with a Crate engine is a dead giveaway that theres something wrong with it. Granted, there are good deals once in awhile, and theres those stories about how "some guy bought a 53 Corvette that is practially new for $600 from a little old lady" , but you cant always take what people say for granted. You couldn't tell whether it had a crate engine or not? Do you have any pics of the truck?

[79BIG10]

I hate to say it but I agree with the others that it's not looking good for you. If you have something in writing that says it had a "new crate engine" then I would look into the case then. But like others mentioned every shop will give you a different price on things that need to be fixed. One thing that can lead to another and more profit in their repairs.

[84 400]

to bad to hear about your bad luck but it is a used 20+ year old truck. You just can't trust people any more. Also was the motor new with recipts? if sodid it just need tuning or was it internal probloms like the heads or cam. If it is a new create motor it should have a warenty right?? GM create motors have a 3 yr warenty as do some other companies. just wondering. any ways without written documentation it is hard to prve what he said. Good luck